


In the Bedrock

by InTheValley



Series: Bedrock Series [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon), 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: (as a child) - Freeform, A deeper look into the types of heroes, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bakudoriya Family, Bakugou Mitsuki Becomes a Good Parent, Bakugou Mitsuki's Bad Parenting, Don't hit your kid, F/F, F/M, Fictional Laws and Ethics, Fictional science, Fusion, Gen, Good Parent Bakugou Masaru, Good Parent Midoriya Hisashi, Good Parent Midoriya Inko, Hisashi is a scientist, I actually researched the Japanese foster care system, I take fanfiction too seriously, I'm looking at you Canon Mitsuki, It's worrying, Izuku and Katsuki are Little Shits, Izuku is a gem, Katsuki's and Izuku's parents are dating, Kid-fic, Lots of Divergence, M/M, Midoriya Izuku Does Not Have One for All Quirk, Midoriya Izuku Has a Quirk, Mitsuki is a global fashion icon, Multi, Nonbinary Character, Nonverbal Characters, OC's are present but aren't main characters, Planned word count: at least 50k, Polyamory, Pre-Canon, Selectively Mute Tsuyu, Shinsou Hitoshi gets adopted, Updates every week until further notice :), Worldbuilding, and how quirks affected the rest of the world, fictional religion, japanese sign language
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-08
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:47:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 45,684
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24075415
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InTheValley/pseuds/InTheValley
Summary: She stared at him, her face clearly urging him to get to the point. He shuffled in place, slightly sheepish."Ah, um, the crystal in the forehead is an actual Crystal, it seems to be where the manifestation is actually coming from. Your child is actually the crystal.""My child-""Yes.""Is a crystal-"He nodded."Given form.""Precisely ma'am!" He was definitely more excited about this than she was. Inko sighed, clutching her temples with her free hand as her baby slept, unaware of the headache they were causing her..-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.AKA Izuku is a gem, and growing up is a very interesting experience.(you don't need to know about Steven Universe to read this)
Relationships: Bakugou Masaru/Bakugou Mitsuki, Bakugou Masaru/Bakugou Mitsuki/Midoriya Inko/Midoriya Hisashi, Midoriya Hisashi/Midoriya Inko
Series: Bedrock Series [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1736935
Comments: 195
Kudos: 594





	1. Quartz: New Beginnings

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to the fic I’m making I guess? Idk if i’ll ever post this, so if you’re reading you probably specifically asked for a link. There is an accompaniment/anthology to this? So if you want more details and basically my thought process as I’m writing this, check it out, I'll post it in chapters to follow along. Hope you enjoy this labor of my love, and boredom. One last thing, this is a slight Steven Universe crossover. You don’t need to know anything about Steven Universe, I’m just using the ‘gem’ concept as a quirk. Quick note, I tend to write my chapters in a series of somewhat drabbles, all of them chronological. Please let me know if this seems too rushed. Anyways, enjoy!

Inko did not know how this could happen.   
She stared at the baby in her arms, or more specifically, the clear Quartz crystal embedded in their head.  
She didn't have any family members with a crystal quirk, she had a grandmother who was made of earth, and that was as close as it got.

The doctor, a special quirk doctor for children born with their quirks (like a tail or wings), walked up to her with an easygoing smile.

"Quite the rare case, but we have solved it ma'am!" He quipped, a pen tapping rhythmically on his clipboard. "Your child, ah-"

"Izuku," she supplied.

"Izuku! Lovely name, but anyways! Izuku seems to be a manifestation of light." 

She blinked skeptically, "They seem solid to me," she said.

"Yes! Light compacted so tightly together that it's actually solid! We've only seen a few other cases like this, a girl born with eyes of light, an entire family whose hair is made of light. This is the first time we've seen a child made out of light completely! Or, almost completely."

She stared at him, her face clearly urging him to get to the point. He shuffled in place, slightly sheepish.

"Ah, um, the crystal in the forehead is an actual Crystal, it seems to be where the manifestation is actually coming from. Your child is actually the crystal."

"My child-"

"Yes."

"Is a crystal-"

He nodded.

"Given form."

"Precisely ma'am!" He was definitely more excited about this than she was. Inko sighed, clutching her temples with her free hand as her baby slept, unaware of the headache they were causing her.

"But how could this happen? This is such an out of the blue quirk! Gem quirks don't run in my family at all!" She said, trying to wrap her head around it.

"But your grandmother was made of earth, and your husband can breathe fire. Your child acquired both of these genes, and when you heat earth-"

"It forms crystals." She finished. He nodded. The doctor read off some other facts for her, their weight (barely 60 grams, at least they were light), their height (8 inches, perfectly healthy), their sex (they were sexless. They didn't have any distinguishing genitalia.), and other things. He gave her a grin, and his card, which read 'Kotsune Mabe.'

"I'll be happy to be their personal doctor Inko-san, such a unique child!" And then he left, leaving her with her miracle.

Said miracle opened up unfocused eyes at her, still blind from birth, "I think we'll have a wonderful time together, Izuku."

She put her finger in their hand, and they gripped it tightly with that reflex that only new babies have. The Quartz on their head glittered in the fluorescent lights.  
"I wonder if that gem of yours is the reason why I always felt something poking me before you were born."

They sneezed, and she laughed.

....

It only took two days after coming home for Izuku to give their mother a heart attack.  
They never seemed hungry, and she wasn't lactating either, so a call to the doctor had him telling her that Izuku probably didn't need food to survive, and likely used another source of energy.

Which was fine, but she had no idea what that source could be.   
So on day two, when her baby started to literally fade before her eyes, she shrieked. Izuku cried for a bit, before disappearing and leaving a crystal to fall onto the bed. She grabbed it gently, and ran downstairs, coming outside with her keys and phone, already dialing Dr. Mabe's number.

"Ah, Inko-san, how is-"

"Izuku just disappeared, and left the crystal on the bed!” Her hands shook, “I don't know what's wrong!" She said, eyes already welling up with tears as she began to walk to his clinic.

"Inko-san you need to calm down, alright? What happened exactly? Are you headed here?" 

"Yes! I- I had put them to bed and they just started to get fainter," She wailed into the phone, "and eventually I couldn't see them anymore and, oh God did I kill my baby?! They're-"

She stopped.

"Inko-san? Inko-san talk to me! What's happening?"

Inko stared downwards. The crystal glowed, blinking a few times as if shuttering, and light left it, forming her Izuku.

Her baby was sleeping, cooing in their slumber. The crystal was still glowing. Maybe it was the sunlight’s reflection? No it was coming from the crystal, not the sky.

"They're glowing," she murmured, before speaking louder, "The crystal is glowing and they've turned back into a baby. At first I thought it was the sun but it's still glowing! Is that bad?!"

The call hung up, and she panicked before hearing, "Inko-san!" And looked up to see the young doctor running towards her, his dark cheeks flushed with exertion.

"I-," he paused, hands on his knees as he panted, "I think I may know what it is." He motioned for her to give him the baby, which she did hesitantly.

He walked over to a tree and put the baby in the shade. Immediately Izuku started to fade. 

"Take them out! Take them out!" She cried. Mabe did, and Izuku started glowing again.

"The energy source is solar power!" He said, and she could imagine him shouting 'eureka!', but he didn't.

She was thankful he didn’t.

Inko wanted coffee and a nap. 

....

The no-food phase didn't last long. At age two, at a playdate with Katsuki, her friend Mitsuki's child, the other baby had shoved one of his crackers into Izuku's mouth.

Izuku froze, cracker sitting on their tongue, before biting it, and swallowing the chunks. Their eyes glittered. 

"Mo!" They demanded, holding out a hand at Katsuki, who threw some in their direction. Katsuki giggled and clapped when they smacked Izuku in the face.

The other child didn’t mind much.

Now that Izuku had discovered that food actually tasted good, they ate everything they could. And despite being made of light and not having to eat, they were modeled after a human, so Inko thought she would have to potty-train them now. 

However, that was not the case, or at least, not in the traditional sense. Izuku didn’t digest the food, and their body was made of light and contained heat. Water just evaporated out of them once they drank it. Food turned to ash and was left in piles on the floor. Mabe-San concluded that the heat could only be accessed inside their body, though.

Izuku didn't even use clothes anymore, they went back into their gem when they slept, and eventually started coming back wearing clothes instead of being naked. The clothes, Dr. Mabe concluded, were also made of light. They were very realistic, other than the fact that they didn't feel like clothes. 

It was the same way Izuku's skin didn't feel like skin. It wasn't bad, but it just didn't feel like anything anyone could place. Something too warm to be human, with the texture feeling more similar to rubber than human skin. 

So obviously Izuku refused to wear normal clothes from that moment on, instead making clothes out of light.

And by clothes, Inko had to watch the toddler traipse through the house in full on All-Might apparel.

Most of the things Izuku liked were hero themed, and while Inko liked heroes as much as the next person, it was getting to be too much.

Inko started leaving out children’s fashion catalogs (mostly Mitsuki’s), in hopes that Izuku would catch on. She bought him a few mix and match paper dolls to really hammer in the nail.

Izuku was delighted, and Inko added a tally to her chart of Parenting Wins.

....

When Izuku was three, they went to pre-school and were immediately marked as a child who needed to be watched a little bit more than the others. Izuku mumbled and cried a lot, and didn't like touching a lot of things, but they would eat everything. 

Izuku couldn't help themselves, one second they had a pencil and the next they were swallowing it. 

The teachers were very patient, luckily. That, and Katsuki had made it his personal mission to be Izuku's guard. He was constantly leading them around the room. Izuku would follow, an eraser or a block in their mouth. 

Mitsuki and Inko thought it was the cutest thing. 

By age four, there was another thing that Izuku learned in preschool, pronouns. Izuku would usually make clothes that they saw in store windows or on tv that they liked, whether it was a dress or pants. Most children didn't care, but there were a few that would ask them if they were a boy or girl. Izuku would say neither, and the other child would be confused, and say that they had to pick one. 

Izuku said that anything was ok, and so some kids said he, and some said she. Izuku responded to both, but mostly 'he' was used.

In a week, the other kids had gotten used to it, calling the other child by random pronouns or announcing their gender of the day as they walked in.

“Good morning!”

“Izuku, come sit with us, you’re a girl today!”

“Okay!”  
....

When the teacher reads a story about pirates and hidden treasure, Katsuki decided that Izuku was a treasure. 

"And you're my little brother, okay Izu? And when I'm number one pro hero, you'll be there with me." He said, explosions sparking up his arms.

"Kacchan is going to be the coolest hero," Izuku agreed, his eyes shining. 

"Better than All Might?" Katsuki asked. Izuku hesitated, clearly torn, before resolutely nodding,  
"Better than All Might."

And Katsuki beamed.

Mitsuki, who had been sent to pick them up so Inko could finish shopping, thought she was going to melt. She stopped the recording on her phone and sent the video to Inko with no caption other than 'ASDFHKFK IM DYING INKO.'

In the store, several workers gave the green haired woman worried looks as she suddenly started crying while looking at her phone.

....

“I HATE YOU!” Katsuki screamed, from his position against the wall. He had gathered some of his toys into a heap in front of him and he threw them at Mitsuki, whose face has two angry red marks on her upper cheekbones. Not from the toys-turned-projectiles, but from anger.

She didn’t hesitate to scream back at the child, “YOU CAN’T HATE ME, I RAISED YOU! AND HOW DO YOU REPAY ME? ASKING ME FOR EVERYTHING!”

Inko didn’t know what she walked into. Izuku clutched her pant leg, and, in a fit of panic, poofed into his gem. Inko caught him and put him in her pocket.

“Mitsuki?” She looked at the blonde woman, waving a hand. 

Mitsuki and her child were practically spitting at each other, she knew Mitsuki and Katsuki has always been prone to anger issues, but this? This couldn’t go on. It needed to be nipped in the bud.

She walked up to Katsuki, who stuttered to a stop as he saw her.

Before he could even say anything, she picked him up and walked back to her apartment down the hall. No doubt they’d be getting noise complaints.

She put Katsuki, now looking hopelessly confused, on the carpet. She handed him Izuku, and began to wipe the almost five year olds face with wet-wipes she always had nearby. It was a mess of snot and tears,and he was left sweaty by his anger. 

He smelled like burning sugar, and his eyes bore into her own.

“Your mother can't talk to you like that. Can you watch Izuku for me, honey? You can watch the new All Might movie, ok? There are carrots in the fridge.”

She left, switching the baby video monitor on just in case. Her phone showed Katsuki in the living room holding onto the crystal, wiping at his eyes with his other hand.

She needed to fix this.

Mitsuki was sitting down at the table when she walked in, a cup of coffee in her hands. The steam was in her face but she didn’t seem to care, staring blankly at a spot on the wall.

Inko noticed that the pile of toys had been cleaned up, but didn’t say anything.

Inko slid into a seat across from her, putting her phone stand up so she could see the kids fight over the remote, apparently Izuku had taken physical form again.  
She knew Izuku would give up the remote eventually, since they both wanted to watch the same thing. He just liked to annoy Katsuki, and Katsuki liked the stress relief. 

“I’m a shitty mom, aren’t I?”

Bakugou Mitsuki, formerly Yamamoto Mitsuki, was a ruling queen of the fashion industry. She always looked effortlessly beautiful, whether she was modeling or designing or laying around her house in pajamas she had been wearing for three days.

In all the years Inko had known her, she had never seen Mitsuki look tired.

But she definitely had now. 

“He’s got my anger, and I can't do jack shit but yell right back at him. That’s how I spend my days, Inko. Getting into arguments over stupid shit with a four year old.”

Inko said nothing. She knew Mitsuki well enough to know she wasn’t done.

“He wanted a new All Might toy. He’s smart, knows I can afford it. Easily. I told him I wasn't going to buy him every little thing he asked for. He got mad. I got mad. Things just kept escalating until I’m sure we didn’t even know why we were screaming at each other.”

Mitsuki took a long sip of her coffee, clicking her tongue at the sharp taste and burn of her mouth.

“God, he says he hates me. Says it all the time. He’s got a right to, you know? I wouldn’t want myself as a mother either. He’d be better with someone else, Inko.”

“That’s bullshit and you know it.” Inko’s eyes were made of a rare steel even as Mitsuki’s head shot up with surprise. Inko didn’t curse often.

“He doesn’t hate you. Not right now he doesn’t. But if you just give up on curbing this I promise you he will. I swear he won’t think of you fondly till he dies if you just give in like this.”

Mitsuki made a noise, maybe even the start of a rebuttal, but it died in her throat, and instead she sniffed wetly.

“If you let him go on like this, and you go on like this, he’ll turn into something he’s going to hate looking back on, if he grows out of it. The teachers praise him for his quirk. He won’t get criticism from them. Katsuki screams at you because he knows you’ll scream back. He knows that you won’t give him what he wants. He wants to make you give him that. He wants to beat you.”

“Well then, what do you think we should do? I’ll do anything Inko. Goddamnit I’ll do anything.”

Inko held out her hand, “Give me your phone, then.”

Mitsuki blinked, and handed it over warily. Inko unlocked it with ease, searched online for something, and dialed a number.

“Hello?”

Inko shocked the fuck out of Mitsuki by suddenly speaking in an almost exact mimick of her own voice, “Yes hello? I’d like to book three different kinds of counseling.”

Mitsuki jumped out of her seat, but Inko put a finger to her lips.

“Alright ma’am, what kind would you be needing?”

“Both my young son and I have anger management issues, so I’d like Family Therapy, and separated therapy for my son and I.”

She felt... strangely embarrassed. To hear it aloud, being spoken to a stranger, was something new. She masked her embarrassment as she masks all things, though. With confidence.

She took a deep breath.

This would need a lot of confidence.

“Alrighty, is Wednesday and Friday at five PM good for you?”

“That’d be great.”

“Can I have your name and contact information then, please?”

And just like that, Mitsuki found herself addressing her issues, and things she never even thought would be issues, and working through them. 

She didn’t expect therapy to help much. But it did. Oh god it did.

There were at home exercises and techniques for them to practice, and they actually made an improvement. Mitsuki knew that if Katsuki was older he would be very against a therapist, but he was four, and thought that having a personal doctor like Izuku was pretty cool.

And he could tell her anything he wanted, and there were cool toys in the room. 

Eventually sessions would go from bi-weekly to monthly, and they reached a point eventually, years later, where they didn’t need to go anymore.


	2. Fluorite: Learning, Carnelian: Friendship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fusion is new and thrilling, and overall an amazing experience.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This got waaay more hits than I expected, considering it's a very niche category. You guys are all great! Like adjvfjvfkhvlafn guYS. There was even one person with costume ideas, that were like, mega cool. Seriously this was awesome. I'd like to give a shout out to my mom, who found out I had 44K written and hadn't posted anything, and was like "Child are you insane?? Post it!!" so yeah haha. 
> 
> Anyways, Fusions in this chapter!! And Hisashi!! I originally wrote this chapter when I was like 16 so it looks bad to me, but I'm sure it's fine. See the anthology or end notes for more info on fusion science and the like!!

“Hey there kiddos, whatcha learning in school?” The voice from the monitor asked. Hisashi’s face was pushed up to the camera.

He’d been busy with a project lately, and hadn’t been able to talk with the two about preschool. Hisashi lived in America, and had for a while, working on one project after another.

“Nothing,” Katsuki said bluntly, “It’s all stupid stuff.”

Hisashi blinked, black curls falling into his eyes. He frowned, “Izuku?”

The green haired child shifted in his seat nervously, “Well, I wouldn’t call it stupid. Buuut, we do already know the stuff they’re teaching. You showed us. I wanna learn something different.”

Hisashi smiled, tucking his chin into his folded hands. “What would you like to learn?”

“I wanna learn about chemical stuff,” Katsuki said, rubbing his fingers into his palm. “I sweat Nitroglycerin, right? I wanna know about it and the other stuff too.”

The man nodded, “That does make sense. Smart choice, Katsuki.” He pretended not to notice how the blonde’s chest swelled at the praise, it made guilt pang through him. He really hated the distance sometimes.

“And you, Izuku?”

“Physics! And languages, like Mama!”

Katsuki’s head whipped towards Izuku, staring at him in shock, “I didn't know we could pick languages! Me too, then!”

“I’ll set something up for you then,” Hisashi said easily. Katsuki really was competitive, wasn't he?

In a few days the kids had books, so many books. Workbooks and paperbacks and DVDs for the car, all lessons on various subjects. Along with them were two tablets, with green and orange foam covers, respectively. They came with a carrier bag, styluses, chargers, and headphones.

Everything on them was amazing. A lot of those ‘brain training’ games, texting with phone and video calling, and an audio and visual library. 

There were language learning apps on the tablet, but there weren't any corresponding books.

“I have a degree in Language studies,” Inko told them, “It’s why I know so many and why I can copy voices really well. Really, voices are just personal accents.”

Izuku and Katsuki had a thirst for knowledge that their parents were determined to keep alive.

……………..

…….   
  
Izuku liked natural things almost as much as heroes, so Inko decided to take him to the flea market, where they found an entire booth run by a woman who made crystal pendants. Izuku was positively vibrating with excitement as he ran towards the booth. Running his hands over the necklaces, to the shock of the booth owner, who seemed to be on the verge of telling him to not touch the gems.

  
Inko laughed as she ducked inside the booth, "Sorry, this is just his kind of thing," she waved a telling hand at the crystal in his forehead.

  
"Ah, a Clear Quartz!" The woman said, her eyes growing interested, but another customer distracted her, asking about prices.   
Izuku didn't notice, he was busy running his hands over the stones.   


  
"This one is yours, Mama!" He said, pointing at a bright emerald wrapped in copper wire. It hadn’t been polished yet, so it was just the raw stone.

She blinked, "Really?" It was very pretty, several shades lighter than her hair, the color of a lime.   
  
He nodded seriously, curls bopping over his face. She tucked her fingers into those dark green curls and ruffled them, turning to the booth owner,

"We'll get this one," and then she knelt down to Izuku's level, "Anything else?"   
  
"That one. For Kacchan." This time it was a piece of Jasper cut into a large bead, on a leather cord.   
  
"Alright then!"   
They got a few more things from the flea market, and then left for home.   
  
Izuku immediately demanded she put on the necklace, so she did, letting the chain fall on her neck.  His responding smile was so bright, there wasn't a moment that she doubted it was made of light.   
  
He gave the other necklace to Katsuki the next day, who took it and wore it as a symbol of pride, preening and lingering in every mirror he passed.   
  
When they got home from the Bakugo’s house, Inko decided that the apartment needed to be cleaned, so she put some music on and started working.   
  
"Mama, dance with me!" Izuku said, bouncing to the beat. 

Inko laughed, "Only for a minute Izu-kun! Mama has to clean."   
  
Izuku had that determined little pout set on his face, eyebrows furrowed with concentration.   
Inko spun him, his skirt flying out with the movement, and he giggled.   
  
"Now I do it to you!" He said, climbing up on the table and trying to spin her. She let him, watching his bright smile and his freckles and everything about him that was _ so bright _ , she almost didn't notice when he literally started glowing.    
  
Suddenly Inko and Izuku disappeared, and someone else came into existence.    
  
"Izu-kun? Mama? I-I'm here! We're here! We're you!" They said, feeling their face with all four hands. They glitched for a second, almost coming apart before snapping back and stabilizing as they calmed down.   
"Who, am I? Who are we? I,” They paused, “I'm Fluorite." They said.   
  
"Fluorite." They repeated, reaffirming themselves. They walked to the bedroom, ducking under the door frame to look in the mirror. They still had green hair, curly and almost breaking out of its low ponytail, their skin was Violet though, or maybe lavender.    
  
Wait, violet, or lavender? Which one was it? Tears began to well in their eyes, and before they knew it they were sobbing. Which one was it?!   
  
They cried for a few more minutes before realizing they hadn't finished cleaning. "Ah!" They cried, heading back to the living room, grabbing cleaning supplies in all four arms as they went.   
  
They had managed to clean most of the house, and two extra arms really did help, before they fell apart.   
  
"Izu-kun!" Inko cried, wrapping her child up into her arms. Izuku gripped at her bleach stained shirt, the one she always wore when cleaning. "Mama! We fused together!" He chirped, grinning up at her.   
  
Inko stared for a moment before murmuring, "We did, didn't we?" She got to her feet and grabbed her shoes,    
"Let's go visit Mabe-san." She said.   
  
He cheered, red shoes appearing on his feet untied (Izuku was in an ‘I can do It myself‘ phase), tying the laces with an impressive level of speed before grabbing his notebooks off the table and bouncing by the door.   
  
It was a five minute walk, the man’s clinic really was incredibly close to their complex. She opened the door, ignoring the 'Closed' sign.   
  
"Ah, um, we're closed, please come Ba-"   
  
"Mabe-nii!" Izuku cried, running into the doctor's office area. Inko heard a laugh from the doctor, "Look who it is, my most unique patient!"   
  
She leaned on the doorway, watching as he sat Izuku on his shoulders and spun around with him, creating shrieks of laughter.    
  
He noticed her watching and slowed down, "Inko-san!" He bowed to her in greeting, causing Izuku to tumble off his shoulders, easily caught in the doctor's arms. He did only weigh around a gram.   
  
"What happened this time?" He asked, setting the child down and grabbing the green 'Izuku' clipboard.  _ Didn’t that say a lot, _ she wondered, staring at the object.   
  
She smiled at Izuku, "Why don't we show Mabe-san what happened, ok?"   
  
"Ok! Then I can show Mabe-san my new entry in my hero notebook," he turned to the doctor, "It's about Eraserhead." He said.   
  
Mabe-san nodded, "I can't wait to see it," He responded seriously.   
  
Izuku grabbed her hands, dancing with her again, climbed up on a chair and gave her a spin. They let themselves be caught in that feeling of Love and Understanding, and they let it change them.   
  
Fluorite was left standing in front of the stunned Doctor. He couldn't speak for a while, just hurriedly writing in his notebook while letting out excited squeaks. Fluorite, knowing the man and his habits, watched him curiously as he fluttered about.   
  
"Ah, um, Inko-san, Izuku? Midoriya-san?" He fumbled over the words.   
  
"Fluorite," They said, helpfully.   
  
"Fluorite, of course! The stone on Izuku's head has turned into a fluorite, the one in Inko-sans necklace has also turned to fluorite, and seems to be embedded in the chest now!"   
He wrote all this down.   
  
Fluorite sniffled, "I-Is that bad?" Tears started to well up in their eyes. Mabe-san waved his hands and clipboard frantically throughout the air,   
"No no no! It's, ah, perfectly fine! Just another part of Izuku's quirk!" He cried, rushing to soothe them.   
  
The tears disappeared, "Ok then, if you say so."   
  
The doctor blinked at the sudden change of feelings. Maybe they had trouble processing emotions?    
  
Mabe-san took a deep breath, torn between excitement and nervousness, "Are you Inko and Izuku together? Can you describe who you are and how you came to be?"   
  
Fluorite paused, grabbing the bottom of the fluffy ponytail and squeezing it to calm themselves down. "I am Fluorite. I was Izuku and Inko but now I'm...more? We- I can almost hear them, but it's like their thoughts combined to make me and my thoughts. I am them, but completely different. I am their...their love? Their love for each other."   
  
Mabe-sans pen was practically flying across the paper, writing so fast his hand was a blur. His quirk, Flairographia, allowed him to write and comprehend things at extreme speeds.   
  
"Continue," he urged them.   
  
"Well, um, I think it's easier if we- they dance? And whoever Izuku is fusing with needs a stone that matches them. Because his gem uses that other gem as like, a bridge? A beacon? Wow these are big words."   
  
"Does Izuku need to know the person he's fusing with? Do you know?"   
  
"I think, uhm, I think what we are, this fusion, represents a relationship. So if Izuku fuses with someone who he doesn't know, it might not be a good relationship. The fusion could be...not good. Bad." They said, struggling between adult and child explanations. "I...I! I can't! I don't know but I don't think it'd be good please stop!" They started to cry, and the two unfused, falling apart.    
Inko sniffled and gathered a teary Izuku up by her chest, and he grabbed a fistful of her hair, rubbing it between his fingers methodically.    
  
"I-I do apologize for being so pushy, Inko-san." Mabe-san stuttered, and Inko's heart went out for the young man.    
  
"Don't worry Mabe-san. I think Fluorite is just very..." She thought for a second,   
"emotional." She said, trying out the word on her tongue. When she discerned that it felt right, she nodded.   
  
She put Izuku down after he gave her two taps on the shoulder, signaling that he was fine, and he skipped off to find his notebooks that he had dropped in the entrance somewhere. She didn't worry for him, they both knew the clinic like the backs of their hands.   
  
Mabe-san sat down right there on the floor, spreading the papers from his clipboard around himself and going through each one, occasionally asking her a question.   
  
Inko sighed. Katsuki also had a crystal picked out for him, how was she supposed to explain this to Mitsuki?   
  
....   
  
Mitsuki, in her own special way, took it surprisingly well. It was Katsuki that needed to be talked to.   
  
"So Izu and I can mash together and be someone else?" He asked, staring at her from under furrowed brows. She went to answer, but Izuku stuck his head out from under her skirt and said, "Yup! And if you're Number One Hero, and I'm Number One Hero, then together we'd be the Number One Hero but- but MORE!"   
  
Katsuki seemed to contemplate this, and the two mothers held their breath, praying that they wouldn't have to deal with a Katsuki-sized tantrum. Before he got his quirk they were bad enough, but now Mitsuki was having to deal with much more collateral than usual. Inko had recommended them take Katsuki to a Quirk Therapist.   
  
After a beat, his red eyes lit up, and he punched the air, stomping his foot excitedly. "Let's do it, Izu! Let's be the best!"   
  
Izuku squealed with delight, "Ok! Ok! We gotta dance though, and we have to feel love for each other, that's how it worked for me and Mama!"   
  
Inko and Mitsuki decided to just sit on the couch, watching the two. Masaru, Mitsuki's husband, sat at the kitchen table. He preferred watching from a distance.   
  
Katsuki grabbed Izuku's shoulders, giving the child a shake, "I'm going to be the best Izu, and you will too, because you're my friend. And I'm only friends with the best. So together," his eyes practically glittered, "We'll be the bestest. We'll be the best ever."   
  
Izuku nodded, "And now we dance!" He said, standing back. He twirled around, and started skipping from side to side. Katsuki, meanwhile, stomped on the floor to an imaginary beat, running at Izuku and grabbing him.    
  
Taking advantage of Izuku's lack of weight, he tossed him in the air, Izuku was laughing, Katsuki was laughing (Inko was having a heart attack, her baby almost hit the ceiling after all).    
  
As Izuku fell back down, he started to glow. The Jasper on Katsuki's neck began to glow as well, a new figure grew from the light.    
  
They weren't that tall, maybe around the size of a middle schooler, with orange skin and two arms, unlike Fluorite's four arms. They had four eyes though, two round and wide on top that were a light shade of red, while the bottom two were slanted, and a darker brick shade.    
  
Their hair was bright red, frizzy and wavy, falling around their head but never quite in their eyes.   
  
"Hey Mom, hi Mama," the child said, looking at their hands and feeling their face. "This is pretty cool," They grinned.   
  
"Wha-," Inko coughed, and cleared her throat nervously, "What's your name?"   
  
"I'm Carnelian, the best fucking hero ever," They said, teeth bared in a half-passable smile. Mitsuki growled, "Hey, watch your language brat."   
  
Carnelian smirked, "I was speaking perfect Japanese, are your ears failing you? I can take you to a doctor. We know a guy."   
  
Mitsuki gaped, before flushing an angry red, "Don't you speak to me like that," she barked.    
  
The smirk only grew, and Inko quickly saw how this would be a problem.    
  
She groaned, because knowing Izuku, he would be fusing with Katsuki regularly now.   
  
....   
  
They did end up fusing regularly, sometimes even sleeping as Carnelian. The orange fusion was often seen in either house, completely at ease. Carnelian was a very passive aggressive child, using more sarcasm than she had ever heard anyone using. The boys grew obviously closer after fusing, but at least they didn't want to be Carnelian constantly.   
  
"I like being Carnelian with Kacchan, but I also like being Izuku," He had explained when she asked, "Plus Kacchan says we also have to be awesome on our own."   
  
And apparently it was as simple as that. They were closer than just friends now, but Inko didn't have a word for it. She knew it wasn't anything harmful though, so she and Mitsuki just let it happen.    
  
It had the additional benefit of helping with Katsuki's anger issues. Katsuki wasn't trying to hit other children now, not unless provoked. He spent all his time with Izuku.   
  
  
They were Fluorite quite often now as well, whenever they were running late or the house needed cleaning, they would fuse to spare time and just become more efficient in general. Sometimes Fluorite would just come into existence while they were watching a movie or on a walk.   
  
Inko and Izuku fused, but her relationship still wasn't anything like his with Katsuki. Carnelian was a different breed of love, and it showed. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: Not a Katsuki/Izuku
> 
> Quirk Facts!!
> 
> All Fusions use they/them pronouns. Izuku is quite literally a projection by his gem, and the light is condensed into what forms his body. When he fuses, he wraps around another person, and kind becomes like a suit (which is why they tend to be taller and bigger). His appearance alters, and he mashes his consciousness into another person. This forms a new personality, that can sometimes be more separate.


	3. Sodalite: Verbalization

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> If they really are going to be pro-heroes, maybe it would be best to start training for it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Carnelian is just the biggest brat, and reminds me of Monoma sometimes. I love him more than words can explain. This chapter is a day late, since I've taken a job watching my aunts three kids while she works. I can usually handle that no problem, bt her kids are really something else hahaha. I pass out whenever I get home. Anyways, THIS HAS ALMOST REACHED 1000 HITS IM SCEAMINGRGKJSJKKJBHVS.
> 
> Alternate summary for this chapter:
> 
> "CARNELIAN NO"
> 
> "CARNELIAN YES"

At the age of seven, Izuku adored his Kacchan. They were definitely going to be amazing heroes, he knew it.    
  
And Carnelian was going to be a great hero too! Once they learned to fight, that is.   
  
Speaking of, "Kacchan?" He asked, tilting his head up from his book to look at his friend. His head was in Kacchan's lap, so he really only saw his chin and up his nose.

  
Kacchan made a noise that indicated he was listening, his eyes not not leaving the screen of his TV as he fought fictional villains using the All Might character.   
  
"Should we sign up for fighting classes? I think it would help with being heroes and stuff." He rubbed Kacchan's shirt between his fingers, before stuffing the end in his mouth. Kacchan paused the game and gave him a glare, but didn't remove the shirt. The shirt would dry in seconds anyways, all of Izuku's bodily fluids were made of light, so once they weren't touching Izuku anymore, they evaporated into light.   
  
"I'm already gonna be the best with you, we don't need any stupid classes to be the best." He said, his voice hard and determined.   
  
Izuku whined around the t-shirt in his mouth, mumbling, "But Kacchan, if I get hit hard or cut, I go back into my gem, and anyone can come and crack me or steal me. What would happen if I cracked? Would I be ok? Could I be fixed with a band-aid or glue? I wonder if they make glue for gems, we should probably get so-"   
  
"Izu-KU!"    
  
He startled, meeting the blondes eyes. His cheeks flushed, he was caught mumbling again. Kacchan was glaring, but his mouth and eyes were twitching, which usually meant he was amused.   
  
"We'll go take classes if you want to that bad, dummy. Just to make extra sure we're strongest." He was grinning now, and Izuku nodded agreeably. He would honestly be fine if he wasn't the best and strongest, but it was a nice thought.   
  
Besides, being the best meant being like All Might. He squeaked at the thought, burrowing his face into Kacchan's stomach, which was bare because Izuku still had the shirt in his mouth.   
  
Kacchan's eyes darted down, and he huffed, a sweaty hand (they were always sweaty) carding through his dark forest curls.   
  
Izuku picked up his book, 'Quirk Theory For the Young Intellectual', and continued reading. He was getting to a good part, too. Of course, every part was a good part, but he always loved the books that Papa sent.   
  
His fingers itched, Kacchan leaned and grabbed Izuku’s notebook off the coffee table, dropping it onto his face.    
  
The gem hummed appreciatively and opened the notebook, grabbed the pencil that had been tossed by his ear, and began taking notes.   
  


* * *

  
  
Explaining Izuku's quirk to the Martial Arts instructor was a bit tough. The first thing he did was have them both try and hit him, and after several minutes he told Katsuki that he should take extra lessons from the Boxing place next door. His brother ran it apparently.   
  
"How come not me?" Izuku asked, pouting. Katsuki had already left to go next door, carrying a note. The instructor, Ru, looked down at the child, 

"Because if I hit you hard enough or cut you, you go 'poof'," He waved an arm for emphasis.   
  
"When you box you have to get in close, and stay close. Which is dangerous for you. I'm going to teach you how to evade and catch hits before they reach you."   
  
Izuku thought it over, teeth tugging at his bottom lip, "Ok," he decided, still unsure. He trusted the teacher though, because Ru-Sensei was a lot older and probably knew lots of stuff.   
  
He should probably make a fighting notebook...   
  


* * *

  
  
A few weeks after starting their classes, a conversation was prompted between them.   
  
"Izu." Katsuki always started conversations like that. With the name or nickname of the person he wanted to talk to, Izuku didn't notice until he became Carnelian with Kacchan. Carnelian liked to talk like that too.

  
"Mhmm?" He answered, scribbling notes on Erasure Hero: Eraserhead, in purple glitter ink. Izuku felt like the page needed an update.    
  
Katsuki frowned, and tapped Izuku's cheek, right on top of his freckles, making the other child close his left eye.   
"Pay 'ttention to me, Izu, it's important." He said.   
  
Izuku hummed and closed his notebook agreeably, turning to his friend.    
  
Katsuki seemed to swell at the attention, as he always did. "You can make clothes outta your gem right?"   
  
Izuku nodded.   
  
"And change em whenever you want?" Katsuki already knew this, but Izuku glowed anyways, changing his All Might dress into a pair of similarly themed overalls.   
  
Katsuki beamed, and nodded, already sure of himself, "Then you should be able to make other things too!"   
  
Oh. This was definitely important. Absolutely most positively important.    
  
"I've never thought of that! That's amazing!" He shrieked, jumping to his feet. Katsuki copied him,   
  
"Of course it's amazing! I thought of it!" He crowed, stomping a foot.   
  
A sudden thought struck Izuku, "Is it...different than making clothes? I've never made anything else before."   
  
Katsuki stomped over to him, and with a big breath, blew Izuku's bangs out from around his face. Then he flicked the crystal, making his friend and sorta sibling yelp and cover it.   
  
"Just do it, dummy."   
  
Izuku wrinkled his nose, but closed his eyes, and focused on the feeling of making clothes. His shirt under the overalls began to glow, and he huffed. He had to think of something different. Sharp Hero: Excalibur had a really cool sword, so he honed in on that thought.    
  
He reached up to his gem, and pulled out a sword.   
  
Inko and Mitsuki later walked in and had simultaneous heart attacks to see Katsuki sitting on the ground, stubbornly silent and holding a bleeding cheek. Izuku was panicking, waving his arms around, and consequently a  _ sword _ , which was in his right hand.   
  
They rushed Katsuki to the hospital, lecturing both children about safety and swords and similarly sharp objects. Katsuki had to get stitches, and would have a scar that kind of looked like one whisker coming from his nose around his cheek for the rest of his life. He and Izuku thought it was cool. Their parents did not.   
  
Izuku was only allowed to summon a staff after that, which he didn’t mind. Hurting Kacchan had been scary. He’d hurt Kacchan before, while playing or sparring, but he’d never gotten him  _ sent to the hospital _ .   
  
On the bright side, they did find out some things, to Mabe-sans delight. Like how only Izuku could hold the things he made from light. Without Izuku touching them, they burst into sparkles of light, eventually dissipating into the air.   
  
Mabe-san told them that it was probably because Izuku had hardly any physical body, and for an object to stay without physical contact, he needed more physical mass to make up for his own lack of it.   
  
They were, essentially, stumped.    
  
Or at least they were until they were at one of Izuku’s monthly quirk check ups, and they were talking to Mabe-san about it. Inko, reading a book while Mitsuki slept on her shoulder, looked up and offhandedly commented, "Well you get much heavier when we fuse, dear, my body adds to your gem.”   
  
And Mabe-San’s eyes practically sparkled.    
  
“Can you fuse?” He asked them, spreading his usual mess of papers on the floor. He grabbed one of the many pens held in his messy ponytail and stared at them, hand at the ready.    
  
Katsuki grinned and, without a word, tossed Izuku into the air. Izuku screamed, clapping his hands in delight as he came back down. Mitsuki startled awake just in time to see the children glow, and for Carnelian to arise from the light.    
  
“Heya, Doc,” They said, lazily waving a hand. They blinked all four eyes slowly, one at a time, “Watcha want me to do?”   
  
“They want you to try and make something out of light, honey.” Inko said. She was distracted from her book now, instead carding her fingers through Mitsuki’s blonde hair.   
“You can do it, kiddo.” The other woman said sleepily, pumping a fist in the air before letting it drop like a weight back onto her stomach. She’d had the deadline for her new line shortened, and so she’d been awake the entire night before, pinning fabric and writing measurements and specifications to send to her seamstresses.   
  
“Of course I can,” They said, “Just watch and learn.”    
They put a hand on their head, drawing out the usual staff, and stared at it.   
  
“Needs more ‘oomph’, “ They said, the other hand reaching to the gem on their neck and pulling out two blocks. They tossed them into the air, swinging the end of the staff to touch them.    
  
The blocks stuck to the staff, and they slammed it down, explosions going off behind the newly created mallet to propel it down. The building seemed to almost jump.   
  
Everyone else was lifted off the ground a few inches before falling back down. No one was upset, Inko grabbed her mug of tea mid-air and took a sip, used to the craziness of their children. Mitsuki snored, oblivious.    
  
Mabe-San didn’t even blink, eyes focused on the paper, hands blurring as lines of text were written at high speeds.   
  
“That’s more like it,” Carnelian smirked, lifting the newly made mallet and twirling it, settling the weapon on a shoulder.    
  
After a few seconds of awkward silence, aside from the snores, the turning of book pages, and Mabe-San’s pens scratching on paper, Carnelian’s face twisted into a grimace.   
  
Their eyebrow twitched, “Why did you have me make this thing if you’re not even gonna look at it?”   
  
Mabe-San leapt to his feet, making Carnelian startle, watching the doctor warily as he fluttered about them. Making notes and talking under his breath.   
  
“It has the same color scheme as your stone, shades of reds and oranges. And it seems you can use your explosions to- to...”   
  
“Propel, or launch.” Inko supplied from the couch.   
  
“Yes! That! Thank you, Inko-San.” He said, nodding to himself as he kept writing. He had run out of paper at this point, instead grabbing his white doctors coat and scribbling on the fabric with a pen.   
  
Inko sighed and reached into her purse, pulling out a small but thick notepad, holding it out to him. She already had a child who went through notebooks like water, and she saw Mabe-San as a son, of sorts. He was only three years her junior, but the young man gave off an aura of someone who needed to be taken care of. Mitsuki didn’t understand it much, but she knew that Inko liked to parent people, so she let it happen without complaint.   
  
Mabe-San didn’t speak, he just grabbed the notebook, pressing his free hand to his chin and extending it in thanks.    
  
Carnelian, meanwhile, had sat down at this point, spinning a piece of frizzy straw colored hair around their finger.    
  
“When are you going to be done? Aren’t we supposed to be seeing if I can let go of the shit I make?”   
  
The young doctor either didn’t hear them or couldn't be bothered to give them an answer.    
  
Inko set down her book, resting it on Mitsuki’s head. “Go on then, honey. It’s getting late.”   
  
Carnelian smirked, “At least Mama listens to me.” They said, standing back up with the mallet, raising it up.    
  
Inko’s face paled. Oh no. She knew that pose, she knew Izuku and Katsuki had recently watched a Vine compilation on the internet (which she very much  _ did not  _ approve of, by the way).    
  
She knew what was coming.   
  
“This bitch empty,” Carnelian yelled, mallet at the ready.   
  
“CARNELIAN YOU HAD BETTER NO-“   
  
“YEET!” The mallet went flying into a wall with a loud explosion, taking out the wall and the one behind it. It stopped, lodged in the remnants of a toilet, which was spraying water into the air.   
  
“MIDORIYA-BAKUGO CARNELIAN!” Inko could only see the bills coming. Her poor husband, Hisashi, would have to work overtime to help pay for this. And Mitsuki’s husband Masaru as well.    
  
“THAT WASN’T FUNNY!!” She shouted, turning to her child.   
  
Carnelian pouted, “It was a bit funny,” They said, hands crossed in front of their chest. They were obviously trying not to smile.   
  
She felt a familiar headache building in her skull, and pressed a hand to her temples in a motion so familiar at this point that it must be her signature pose. They shouldn’t have had to deal with the defiant teen phase for years.   
  
Not that she didn’t love Carnelian, but they really did like pushing her buttons.   
  
“Your television and video game privileges have been revoked for two weeks. This goes for Izuku and Katsuki as well. But you, specifically, will write me an essay about how we treat property that isn’t our own.”   
  
Carnelian stared at her, any attempt at a smile wiped off their face, before throwing themselves to the floor dramatically. “That’s unfair, Mama!” They cried, stomping both feet on the ground explosively.    
  
Maybe not  _ all _ teen. Carnelian was definitely acting like the two children they were made out of.   
  
Inko spotted char marks under their sneakers and said, “If you use any more explosions, I’ll make it three weeks of restrictions instead of two.”   
  
The explosions stopped with a muffled, angry scream, but the kicking continued.    
  
Inko began to get her things, and as she took her book off of Mitsuki’s face, the blonde woman woke up with a jerk. 

  
“Wha-“ Her eyes traveled from Mabe-San, who was still writing, unmoved, to Carnelian throwing their tantrum, to the destruction around them. “What happened?”   
  
She wasn’t sure if she even wanted to know the answer.   
  
Inko just started grabbing Mabe-san’s papers, folding them, and stuffing them in his bag.    
“We had an accident, love, but it’s mostly resolved now. Carnelian needs to write a paper on property damage though, and all three children are banned from electronics for two weeks.”   
  
Mitsuki sat up blearily, fixing her cardigan.   
“I still don’t know how you can be so apathetic with things like this, but when Izuku falls down and poofs, you have a panic attack.”    
  
Inko gave her an empty, dry smile. “I’m emotionally dead at the moment.”   
  
“Oh.”   
  
Inko walked into a back room, and Mitsuki turned to Carnelian. The child was still on the floor, but had calmed down somewhat, sniffling occasionally.    
  
“What the hell did you do, kiddo?” She gestured to the broken remains of the wall.   
  
Carnelian merely huffed, muttering something about overreacting mothers and memes, and drew their knees up to their chest.   
  
Clearly she wasn’t going to get any answers from them.   
  
Inko shuffled back into the office, holding a suitcase. She took Mabe-sans shoulder gently, making him jerk.   
  
His eyes scanned the room wildly, “Ah...what did I miss?”   
  
Inko laughed, but it was a tired, unamused sound, “We learned fusions don’t have to have physical contact with their light creations.”   
  
The proof was right in front of them, the glowing oversized mallet sticking out of the shattered toilet.    
  
As if on cue, the mallet burst into sparkles of orange light, and disappeared.   
  
They looked at Carnelian, who muttered under their breath mutinously, before speaking up louder.   
  
“Wasn’t me. Must be a fuckin time limit,” They said, their voice scratchy.   
  
“Fantastic!” Mabe-San cried, making a note. He didn’t seem to care much about the damage.   
Inko hauled him to his feet.   
  
“You’re staying with us until your place gets fixed.” She informed him. He’d have to sleep on the couch, though...   
  
He nodded, not really paying attention as he let her lead him to the door. She turned her head, “Mitsuki, grab our child!”   
  
“Got it!” Mitsuki called back. She fixed her purse on her shoulder and walked over to the person in question, navigating through the rubble with ease, even in heels. She squatted, chin resting on her hands.   
  
They glared at her, “What?” They asked sulkily.   
  
She hummed, “Nothin,” she said, “But you just can’t do the angry face thing as well as Katsuki. You’re too cute.” She smiled and booped the tip of their nose with her finger.   
  
“Hmph.” They said, standing upright, and stuck their previously booped nose into the air, “I  _ am _ cute. I’m the fucking cutest. Let’s go.” They stomped off after Inko, wiping tears from their face. Mitsuki watched them fondly.   
  
“Brat.” She said under her breath, before getting up and following them.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I almost took out the vine ref, but in the end of it all, i'm writing this for fun, so i left it in. I let my fusion child meme. Also Inko is just my aunt. i modeled her after my very tired aunt, who i'm pretty sure is an inch away from snapping and just losing her mind. i'm never having kids.


	4. Lapis: Good Judgement

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I’m, ah, Shinsou. Shinsou Hitoshi. You...can call me Hitoshi, I guess.” Hitoshi said, wincing as alcohol was applied to a cut on his forehead. “How did you do that?”
> 
> Izuku stared at him for a second, confused.
> 
> “Being one person. With a hammer-“
> 
> “Mallet,” Katsuki interrupted.
> 
> “-mallet.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've passed 1000 hits and I cried like a baby bc of it. I've become a nanny to four kids, and sometimes i can be at their house from literally 9 AM to 9 PM, so I'm very very tired hahaha. ALSO TOSHI TOSHI TOSHI TOSHI. Originally this chapter was over 7k but I split it.
> 
> See the end notes for a discussion on fostering in Japan!!

  
At age seven-almost-eight, Izuku found another person who became a staple in their lives.   
  
“Are you sure you want to stay here? We can take you two with us,” Inko said, straightening the strap of her purse from its place on her shoulder.   
  
Katsuki nodded, as Izuku was too immersed in his notebooks to answer.    
  
Inko nervously messes with her bun, “Call us on the phone if you need anything, or if Izuku poofs, or gets a scratch, or-“    
  
Mitsuki cut her off with a laugh, “Stop your fretting, they can literally become a teenager at will. They’ll be fine. We, however, will not be fine if we are late.” And with that being said, she started dragging Inko off.   
  
Inko protested heavily, before giving in, calling over her shoulder, “We love you!”   
  
The two children looked up to yell back, “We love you too!” Before the women turned around a street corner and left their line of sight.   
  
Katsuki scuffed a shoe in the dirt, dusting the white of his sneaker with a layer of brown.   
“Watcha wanna do, Izu?” He asked, looking at the very, very large backpack their mothers had left them. It was filled with snacks, games, anything they might want, really.   
  
Izuku stuck a pencil in his mouth, making Katsuki frown. “You’re not supposed to do that, Mama said to use the necklaces or rings to chew on stuff.”   
  
Izuku spat the pencil out, digging through a pocket in the bag and taking out a special necklace with beads that can be chewed on. They would’ve called it a teething necklace, but since those are for babies, and regular teething toys are not as durable as Izuku’s necklaces. They learned that from experience.   
  
Izuku stuffed one of the beads, a large rubber diamond shaped one, into his mouth.    
  
Katsuki plopped himself to the ground, “You never answered me, what do you want to do?”   
  
Izuku hummed in thought, “I wanna stay here, and keep writing. Mom left you a music pod with headphones,” He said around the bead, referring to Mitsuki.   
  
No woman knew exactly when, but eventually the kids started to call them both Mom or Mama, like Carnelian. Mom was Mitsuki and Mama was Inko, it was as simple as that. The adults didn’t question it, because it wasn’t a bad thing.   
  
Katsuki sighed, and took the aforementioned items out of the backpack. He liked loud, angry music. Mitsuki called it ‘Vent Music’. It ranged from rap and hip-hop to metal and rock, and all of it was very angry, and very, very aggressive.   
  
He shoved the headphones on, and started mock-boxing along with the music.   
  
Izuku smiled at him, pausing in his writing to watch. Katsuki was all sharp edges of fire, licking and biting and burning. Everything about him seemed to hold heat. His stare was a burning gaze that could stop a man in his tracks. His grin was bright, and bold.    
  
Izuku could’ve given him Onyx, a stone made with magma, but Jasper, in its intensity, suited him better.   
  
Izuku was content to watch him light up his path with flame, for as long as he could.   
  
He jerked his head when someone cried out from the middle of the park, the bead fell out of his mouth.    
  
There was a group of older boys, in a huddled circle around someone on the ground. At first glance, Izuku thought maybe someone had fallen, and the others were making sure they were all right.   
  
That is until one of the boys tilted his leg back and kicked the person in the middle, who made a muffled wheezing noise.   
  
Izuku was on his feet in an instant, making Katsuki stop and pull his headphones off.   
  
“Izu, wha-“ And in typical Midoriya fashion, Izuku ignored him, cutting him off as he speed-walked over to the group.   
  
Katsuki now noticed the group, and his eyes narrowed. He had gotten the phone out to pause the music, so he stuffed it back into a pocket, right on Izuku’s heels.    
  
“What are you DOING?!” Izuku cried, pushing the teens apart and standing in front of the person, someone with purple hair, whose mouth was taped shut.    
  
Izuku stared in horror, because who could do that to someone? It was so inhumane, it sent shivers up his spine.    
  
He glared at the boys, “Get away from them! Leave them alone, please!”   
  
One of the boys, a tall teen with porcupine quills for hair, sneered. “Why the fuck would we listen to you?” He asked, twirling a quill around his fingers.    
  
“Because if you don’t, I’ll blow you up so high, you’ll leave the fucking atmosphere.”   
  
Katsuki stood there like the fierce warrior he was, explosions popping threateningly over his skin.   
  
The delinquents hesitated, before giving Katsuki a once over and scoffing, “You might be able to make little firecrackers, but you’re just a brat. And I doubt the other one with the-,” Porcupine-guy looked at Izuku, “-With the fucking jewel in her head, is going to be much of an issue either.”   
  
Another boy, this one had no physical quirk, but had long blonde hair in a ponytail, laughed, “Look, this doesn’t you and you two don’t know this kid. We don’t want to hurt two normal kids, especially a little girl. Go back and play,” it was obvious he was trying to sound convincing, but his point fell through.   
  
Izuku frowned. “Kacchan, I think Carnelian would be a help here.” He said.   
  
Katsuki grinned, and rushed through the teens, grabbing Izuku and tossing him in the air.   
  
Then they were gone, and Carnelian stared at the group with eyes slit in annoyance.    
  
They looked down at the beaten child, and grabbed him by the shirt. “I’m assuming you have some brains,” They told the kid, who gave them the most defiant look someone black and blue could give. “Sit on my shoulders, and don’t fall.” They plopped the kid onto their shoulders, and stared impassively at the boys.   
  
“Look, why don’t you idiots just save me the trouble and leave?” They asked, pressing their fingers to their temples in a familiar pose, probably copied from Inko.    
  
The kid on their shoulders ( _ is it ok to call him a kid if he’s around their age? _ ) gave them a skeptical look. Obviously he was expecting that they would be the ones running away, not the other way around.   
  
Well tough luck, kid.   
  
Porcupine-guy rolled his eyes, “Oh big deal, crystal girl’s quirk let you two brats grow into one bigger brat. There’s still one of you and three of us.” He said.   
  
Carnelian snickered, grabbed their staff, and their blocks, and promptly made their signature massive mallet. They leaned on it like a cane, explosions dancing along the edges.   
  
“I can make the ground shake with this thing. Just imagine what would happen if, say, I don’t know, I hit you instead? I’d like to think it’d be like a balloon popping.”   
  
Their grin was all teeth.   
  
Carnelian had ever seen a group of teens scatter so fast. Huh, and they thought teens were typically lazy.

“You deserve each other,” Ponytail-guy yelled over his shoulder, “You shitty villains all think alike!”   
  
And they were gone.    
  
Carnelian pouted, slightly put off that not even one boy had stayed to fight. It would’ve been fun.    
  
They let their mallet, still unnamed, disappear in a sparkle of light. Then they took the kid off their shoulders and worked the duct tape off of his head. The boys had wrapped it all the way around,on top of his hair and everything, so Carnelian had to try and be gentle.   
  
Izuku would be better at this, they decided, and in a flash of light, shifted.    
  
Izuku ran up to the mystery boy, picking hair out of the tape and slowly taking it off   
bit by bit.

“I’m Izuku,” He said, smiling brightly. “And this is my Jasper, Kacchan. His actual name is Katsuki, so you can call him that. Did you know that you’re the brightest Amethyst I’ve ever seen? Kacchan isn’t he such an amethyst?”   
  
Katsuki had fetched the backpack and the rest of their belongings, moving them to the new spot. He sat cross legged, slurping a yogurt pouch and grunting noncommittally at the question. He took out two more pouches, the first because Izuku loved these yogurts, and the second because he knew that Izuku would want to feed this stranger and make sure he was alright.   
  
He took the first aid kit out too.   
  
The stranger looked like he was confused, but his eyes held a sense of resignation to them, like he was too tired to care.   
  
Speaking of, he didn’t look like he slept enough, Katsuki noted to himself, and slurped his yogurt.   
  
His nose crinkled at the thought, maybe Izuku’s and Inko’s worrying had worn off on him.   
  
He hoped it wasn’t completely contagious.   
  
“Aaand, there!” Izuku cheered, pulling the rest of the tape off gently. “Now we can fix your cuts and stuff. Don’t worry, my Mama taught me how to do this stuff, because Kacchan hurts himself all the time.”   
  
“Do not,” the blonde refuted, passing Izuku the first aid, “They’re battle wounds, from battle.”   
  
Izuku just hummed.   
  
The stranger blinked, looking blearily from one child to the other, “Who  _ are _ you people?” He murmured, in shock.   
  
“We already told you that, dumbass. I’m Katsuki, and that’s Izuku.” Katsuki said, throwing his empty packet in a nearby trash can and taking the phone back out.    
  
“Kacchan! That’s rude! They might still be surprised or something.”    
Izuku put a band-aid on their cheek. “Who are you, though?”   
  
“I’m, ah, Shinsou. Shinsou Hitoshi. You...can call me Hitoshi, I guess.” Hitoshi said, wincing as alcohol was applied to a cut on his forehead. “How did you do that?”   
  
Izuku stared at him for a second, confused.    
  
“Being one person. With a hammer-“    
  
“Mallet,” Katsuki interrupted.   
  
“-mallet.”   
  
“Oh!” Izuku clapped his hands together, messing with his necklace. “That’s my quirk. I’m a gem, and my body is just a manifestation of light. I can fuse with other people if they are wearing or holding a specific gem. And the mallet thing, it was also a manifestation of light.” He said, tilting his head as he explained,    
  
“Kacchan sweats nitroglycerin, so he can make really big explosions. When we fuse we make Carnelian, and they can use both of our quirks.”   
  
Hitoshi modded, not really completely understanding, but he got the gist of it. Crystal girl (boy?) could merge with people who had stones to make bigger people. 

“Are you a girl, boy, or somethin’ else?” Katsuki piped up.

Hitoshi blinked, “I’m a boy,” he said. He had thought it was obvious. He was about to ask the same of them, but he got interrupted.   
  
“What’s your quirk?” Izuku asked, getting fresh bandages out. Hitoshi froze mid-movement,and hunched over. He was pretty tall for his age, but made himself look smaller somehow.   
  
“It’s stupid, and evil.” He said, staring at the ground instead of their faces, “It’s a villains quirk.”   
  
“Who the fuck told you that?” Katsuki asked, skeptical.   
  
“Practically everyone.”   
  
Katsuki let out a sharp bark of laughter, “It can’t be a fucking villains quirk if you’re not a villain. They’re dumbasses and you’re like, six.”   
  
“I’m seven,” Hitoshi defended.    
  
“Still a kid.” Katsuki said, eyes not leaving his game. A sniffle drew both boys' attention to Izuku, who had big tears gathering in his eyes.   
  
Hitoshi panicked, and Katsuki sighed.   
“Here we go again,” he mumbled, grabbing tissues from the backpack.   
  
Izuku burst into sobs, “Why would they tell you that? That’s, that’s so  _ mean _ !” He cried.    
  
Hitoshi waved his hands around wildly, feeling somehow guilty, “It’s fine, really! I’m used to it!”   
  
“Shouldn’t have said that,” Katsuki singsonged, indifferent to the situation and totally not helping. All he did was kick the box of tissues at them and take out a phone, rapidly typing into it. But the blonde was right, because after Hitoshi spoke, Izuku began to wail louder.    
  
“You shouldn’t  _ be  _ fine, you shouldn’t  _ be _ used to it!!” He took several, gasping breaths, tears pouring down his face like he was some kind of faucet.   
  
Could someone even cry that much? Hitoshi doubted the tears were normal, especially when he noticed that the second they dripped off of his face, they disappeared into sparkles of light. Kind of like tiny shattered bits of mirror.   
  
Izuku cried for several long minutes, as Hitoshi tried (and failed) to calm the other child.   
  
Katsuki ignored them. He did care for Izuku, but his friend cried so often over the simplest of things, that Katsuki knew exactly what was going to happen.   
  
He checked the time on the phone, and affirmed his thoughts. Either their mothers would show up, or in a few minutes Izuku would cry himself out. He could send another text to his mothers letting them know Izuku was crying now, but it seemed like too much effort.   
  
The waiting game had begun, he mused, watching the two. Hitoshi was being the most animated he had seen him be so far, flailing his arms and practically crying himself.   
  
He blew blond hair away from his face in an aggressive huff, he didn’t need two people crying. One was enough.   
  
“Izuku? Katsuki?” And there were the moms, right on schedule.   
  
“Izuku what’s wrong? Wait,” Mitsuki paused mid-step, “One...two-“ her gaze fell on Hitoshi, “-...and there’s the three I’ve heard about,” She finished in a mutter.

  
Close enough for Katsuki to hear, though.  
  
So she’d gotten his texts, good. Katsuki turned back to the phone.  
  
Hitoshi shuffled his feet, pulling down the sleeve of his old shirt. It didn’t cover his wrist, despite being long sleeved and stretched out from the habit of pulling on it.  
  
He knew he looked like a homeless kid or something, he got asked at least twice a day.   
  
Inko went straight to her crying child, passing Katsuki who stuck a hand in the air in a casual wave. She faltered, looking at the third child, but Mitsuki made eye contact and nodded, so she went on to Izuku.  
  
“What’s wrong with my little star?” She cooed, and Izuku threw himself into her arms, embracing his title as the ‘baby’ of the family. She walked him over to a bench and sat down, Katsuki strolling after them and sitting on Inko’s other knee, leaning back onto her right shoulder. His eyes never left the phone screen.  
  
Hitoshi watched all of this, as Mitsuki gave the child a once-over. His hair was long and messy, and hadn't been cut in a long time. It had started to mat together at the back, probably from sleeping and not brushing it in the mornings.   
  
He was skinny, but she didn’t think he was underweight, Inko could tell more than she could. His clothes were too small for such a lanky kid, and his sneakers were ripped and used.   
  
He was decently beat up, a blooming bruise on his cheek, a rash over his mouth, a split lip. Her eyes narrowed at another bruise, leading into the scalp, and she bent down, startling him.  
  
“Hey kiddo. I’m Mitsuki, their mom.” She gestured to the kids, “Can I see your face for a sec? What’s your name.”  
  
The kid was really hesitant, before nodding, and saying “Hitoshi,” in a croaky voice. He stepped forward, knees tensed and elbows locked.   
  
He expected her to look at the lip, the bruise on his cheek, but she didn’t. She took some of his hair and moved it up, giving a sharp intake of breath.   
  
He jumped back, hand flying to his hair, “What do you want?” He asked. Why the heck would she look at that? Was there something there? There were no mirrors at the house, so he didn’t know.  
  
“You’ve got a bald strip.” She said, tucking an angry, shaking hand into her pocket.   
  
“A...a what?” Was she a doctor? Was it cancer or something?   
  
She took two large strides and crouched down to his level, putting a hand on his shoulder. “I used to volunteer at animal hospitals and shelters.”   
  
“What does that have to do with anything? I’m not a dog!” He hissed, getting angry. This lady was too confusing. Everything that had happened was confusing. He was sick and tired of being confused.  
  
Mitsuki gave him a tense smile, “I know you’re not, but sometimes dogs would come in missing fur, bald strips on their face and head.”  
  
Her grip tightened on his shirt just barely, “Have your parents ever made you wear a muzzle?”  
  
All the blood drained from his face and he tried to leap away, but Mitsuki had a hold on him. He didn’t know what the word ‘muzzle’ was. His foster parents jokingly called it the Mute Button, and never anything else, he assumed she meant that.  
  
“Look, I’m sorry kid but I can’t ignore this, I just want to help you.” She said.  
  
He shook his head wildly, hair whipping around his ears. He didn’t open his mouth in fear of using his quirk on her.  
  
Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) for him, Bakugo Mitsuki has been through hundreds of meltdowns and tantrums due to Katsuki, and thanks to Izuku and Inko she was also well-versed in navigating anxiety attacks.  
  
She gently pushed his shoulders until he was sitting on the ground, and she mirrored him. “You gotta calm down, breathe with me ok? Can you do that?”  
  
It took a few tries, but eventually he started to copy her breathing pattern, and his shaking turned to small tremors, which turned ever smaller with every breath.  
  
“Why would you wanna help?” He asked.   
  
At this she chuckled a little, “After my kids saved you, Katsuki texted me, telling me everything. So I wanted to check you out to make sure you were OK, but this isn’t just bullies, obviously. Where are your parents?”  
  
Hitoshi sniffed, wiping his nose with his sleeve, “They gave me up for adoption when I was born.” Was his muffled reply, “Never knew ‘em. Have a foster family right now.”  
  
“And they make you wear a muzzle?” She pressed. He nodded miserably, “They don’t like my quirk. It’s Brainwash, I can make people do what I say if they answer me.”  
  
Mitsuki’s mind flashed through every alternative, she couldn’t let this kid go back. Luckily Inko knew a Child Protection Services agent. She could do this. She could make this work.  
  
“Hey honey,” she called to the bench, heart warming at the sight of Izuku passed out across his mother's lap and Katsuki close to doing the same. Izuku’s body glowed, retreating back into his crystal with unconsciousness.   
  
She and Inko never weaned the two out of napping. Izuku often recharged faster when he slept. Katsuki needed naps to function, so he became quieter around nap time, waking up an hour later full of his usual fire. He blinked blearily at them, annoyed, as Inko answered, “Yes?”  
  
“Call that Traci friend of yours, will ya?”  
  
Inko furrowed her brows, and put Izuku’s gem in a clear plastic pocket of her purse (so he could still be in the sun). She hefted Katsuki onto her hip and walked over to them.  
  
“I thought you didn’t like Traci?”   
  
Mitsuki sighed, “I don’t like her attitude but she’s good at her job, besides-“ The two adults fell into conversation, talking about things Hitoshi didn’t really understand. He instead made eye contact with Katsuki.  
  
The blonde child was completely at ease, used to strange situations like this. He was obviously tired though. Red irises looked Hitoshi up and down.   
  
Katsuki squirmed until Inko set him down, and he shuffled to his peer, grabbing his hand and pulling him along to the backpack.  
  
“We usually go to sleep right now. You might as well sleep too.” Katsuki said gruffly, “You’re gonna fuckin be here a while.” He reached into the bag and took out a quilt along with a blanket.  
  
“I’m not tired and I don’t take naps.” To be honest, he actually was really tired. He could never sleep well with the Mute Button on, and his adopted parents held a lot of weird parties at night, so it was too loud to sleep, period.  
  
Katsuki looked at him skeptically. He had seen his Dad after three consecutive all-nighters, after being hired by a rich guy to make a completely personalized line of furniture and decor for his penthouse. He knew what ‘exhausted’ looked like.   
  
So he knew this kid was lying through his teeth, but Katsuki was used to dealing with Izuku. Izuku was stubborn about a lot of things, like not wearing actual clothes, chewing everything, and his notebooks...  
  
He could handle someone like Hitoshi pretty damn easily.   
  
“You can either sleep with me or lay down and close your eyes, which do ya wanna do?” 

Mitsuki had mentioned once or twice a few tactics (that she read from a book) on how to deal with things like this. She told him that it would help out with Izuku. No matter what Hitoshi chose, he’d fall asleep eventually, Katsuki didn’t really care how long it took.   
  
“I’ll just lay down then.” Hitoshi sat on the quilt, and laid his head on his arm. At the house, he wasn’t really offered choices. He was surprised the aggressive blonde hadn’t just yanked him down, but he was glad he hadn’t.   
  
His breathing evened out, and Katsuki opened one eye, just to check, smirking at the sight. He fell asleep not long after.   
  
A few minutes later, the mothers had gotten off the phone.    
  
“So we can take him with us? You sure?” Mitsuki didn’t want to be charged with kidnapping.   
  
Inko rolled her eyes, smiling, “Tsuki, Traci has been doing this for a long time. He was wandering by himself, and he’s hurt. If we took him home and kept him we’d get arrested, but we’re just taking him to her office, which is a legal office.”   
  
Mitsuki crosses her arms, checking for dirt on her white heels, “Hmm. And from there we adopt the kid?”   
  
Inko turned red, flailing her arms around in embarrassment, “N-not that fast! We still need to ask him, and get a court case, and apply as foster parents or try to get a Special Adoption! There’s a whole process!”    
  
She sighed, “But, ah, yes. I really don’t want him to go back into the system. He’ll get sent to an institution most likely.”   
  
“We’d have to speed up our plans to get a house together, instead of these cramped apartments.”   
  
“I am aware.” 

Inko sighed. They would need to start seriously searching.   
  
“Do we even have the money, Inko? Adoptions are so expensive nowadays. How much again?” Mitsuki smirked.   
  
“Over 2 million yen, but,” She gave Mitsuki a dry look, “You know very well that we can afford it. You and Masaru were planning on having another, anyways. This way we skip the baby phase entirely!” Mitsuki stared at her girlfriend in amusement. Inko had always been one of those types who would flip emotions on a dime.   
  
She pouted at Inko, “Aww, but I love the baby phase.”   
  
Inko paused, eyebrows furrowing, “I thought you hated the baby phase?”   
  
“Yeah no shit, honey. Let’s do this.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I see foster parents and the foster system a lot in BNHA fics. Like, a lot. And it's definitely plausible that the system would have changed in 100 years. BUT, I don't think it would've changed enough for the foster system to be that popular, unfortunately. The Japanese government values blood relations over all else. While adoption in Japan is high, very high, a lot of it is grown people adopting other grown people, like young coworkers, or employees, so they can hand their business down to someone capable when they die and the business can stay in the family.
> 
> There is hardly a foster system in Japan. They value blood so highly, there just isn't a lot of foster homes or parents. So what happens instead? Institutions. Institutions are like boarding houses for unwanted kids, similar to orphanages, except relatives and their parents still have rights over that kid. When a parent wants their kid back, and they have been deemed fitting or whatever, the parent can take them back. At least thats my understanding of it. There are hundreds of institutions in Japan, who care for kids until they're eighteen. I can't find any evidence or kids being abused inside institutions, but theyre definitely not a loving family environment.
> 
> Another thing! Hitoshi's foster parents aren't absolute scum. They're pretty shitty, but he is not in a very abusive home. What they mainly are is neglectful. They're young, and stupid asf, and just want the government money. I tried to make them still somewhat human. Like people you could actually imagine meeting. 
> 
> Anyways, check out the anthology for more info if ya want it! I love you allllll.


	5. Jade: Of Loving Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hitoshi is getting a home. He thinks he might like it there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WE WENT OVER 2000 NOTES!!! AHHHHHHH.
> 
> and i had a lot of really really interesting comments. i had to explain Izuku's fertility in one, and another comment gave me such a great idea i changed a character's given crystal (and subsequent fusion) bc of it. 
> 
> i love you guys so much. also, thank you to Ey, Hina, and Tali from my discord writing server, bc i would never write as much if it wasn't for them.

  
Hitoshi woke up the next day in a place he vaguely recognized as an institution.    
  
He stepped out of the bedroom, and found the office. “Um, hello?”   
  
The lady at the desk smiled at him tiredly, “Ah, Hitoshi-kun, you’re awake.”   
  
“Why am I here? I have foster parents,” he said. This made no sense.   
  
She hummed, turning through a book, “Yes, But two women found you in the park and determined your foster parents were unfit. Normally they wouldn’t have been able to do anything, but they know Traci Molstet, a protective services worker who’s rather high up. She reached the same conclusion and you were removed.”   
  
She peered down her glasses at him, “You slept through the entire thing, you must’ve been exhausted.”   
  
He struggled to comprehend what was happening, “So I’ve been removed. Okay.”    
  
He took a breath, “N-Now what?”   
  
“Normally after a case like this, you’d stay in Institution until you’re of age. However, it seems that a couple has already asked for you. Bakugou Masaru and Mitsuki,” she read, and he froze in shock.   
  
“Midoriya Inko tried to submit an application, but her husband works overseas, and our agency only accepts couples that live together. The Bakugo’s have to get approved by court first, so it may take a few months.”   
  
He didn’t know what to feel, “I’ll just... go back to the bedrooms if that’s ok.”   
  
She gave him the same tired smile, and waved her hand, gesturing for him to leave.    
  
He did.   
  
He walked straight back, and sat on the bed. At the base of the bed was a bag, with his things in it. He opened the bag, and found his clothes, shoes, school supplies, along with...   
  
He blinked. Once. Twice.   
  
He was pretty sure this was one of the kids tablets he had seen in that giant Backpack. He picked it up, finding a note stuck to the back.   
  
_ We’re sorry for not telling you about all of this, but you slept through the entire process. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Inko can’t adopt you, so my husband and I are trying to. Unfortunately you have to stay here in the meantime, but at least it’s not with whoever you were with. _ _   
_   
_ It’ll take a few months, and we know that this is all very fast and sudden, but we’d like you to know that even though this was hurried and decided quickly, we take this seriously. The kids are open to it, and we’re looking to get a bigger property, so there’ll be plenty of room. Plus, we’re not assholes like those other people. _ _   
_   
_ Hopefully we’ll see you in three months or so, kiddo! _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Mitsuki, and the family. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ P.S: This tablet is yours, the kids only need one, since they share everything. You can message Katsuki and Izuku whenever you want, or play games. Enjoy! _ _   
_   
He didn’t know what was wrong with him. Tears fell onto the paper, and started to sob.    
  
They didn’t even know him, why would they do all of this? For someone like him, especially.    
  
He hesitated, but unlocked the tablet, the photo background being Inko and Mitsuki with their arms around each other, in beach clothes. The kids were similarly dressed, grinning at the camera. Two men, one with curly black hair, the other with brown hair and glasses, stood behind them. They must be their husbands. Inko’s husband looked happy. Maybe they weren’t divorced then?   
  
In a stylized font at the bottom, it said “Enjoy Kotohiki Beach!”   
  
A family trip, then.   
  
He smiled, and didn’t think he would mind living with them.   
  


* * *

  
  
In the next few months, lots of things happened. Police officers came in the day after he arrived and took pictures of his hair and face, his ribs, and his mouth. They also had him tell them about his adopted parents.   
  
Then he went to a trial, and they played the recordings of him talking. He remembered making the recording with the officer, shortly after he’d been accidentally given Iced Coffee instead of chocolate milk at his own request.

He had been much more talkative than usual.   
  
  
_ Hitoshi: They didn’t like my quirk. It’s a villains quirk. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Officer: Your quirk is called Brainwash, right? _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Hitoshi: Yeah, and it’s evil, but I still wanna be a hero when I get older. They told me that was stupid, though. And since I sometimes use my quirk on accident, they put the Mute Button on me. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Officer: The muzzle? _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Hitoshi: I guess that’s what it’s called, since Mitsuki called it that too. It didn’t let me talk, and I even wore it to sleep. My neighbor Anya couldn’t hear good, and they said you don’t even have to speak to talk, you can do it with your hands. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Officer: Sign Language? _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Hitoshi: You know it too? Anya taught me, but they were old and died a few months ago. _ _   
  
_

_ Officer: Yes, I know some of it, but before I can show you, can you tell me more about your foster parents? _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Hitoshi: Okay. That's what this is, right? To hear about the bad stuff? They stayed up late a lot, and had parties. I wasn’t allowed to come downstairs, not even for water. I know, because I tried once and they hit me. They don’t hit me a lot though, not even hard. They just have parties. And I eat the leftover food after the parties by myself. Did you know that you can put salsa in a blender and make it pizza sauce? I made pizza like that, because they had tacos, but there wasn’t any left except cheese, salsa, and tortillas. So I made it like that. _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Officer: oh really? _ _   
_ _   
_ _ Hitoshi: You should try it, it’s good but you have to drink a lot because it’s spicy. But don’t drink anything from bottles because that’s ‘booze’ and it’s gross. I know because we lost power once so there wasn’t any water, and I drank some and it tasted terrible. _

The recordings were played during appropriate moments in the court. _   
_   
Mitsuki, Inko, and the kids were there too, they told the judge about how they had met him and any other information.   
  
“The bullies were picking on Hitoshi, so we made Carnelian and saved him!” Izuku said, looking down from the stand. He waved at Hitoshi every time their eyes met.   
  
The judge quirked an eyebrow, “What do you mean by ‘make carnelian’?” The question was echoed in murmurs throughout the courtroom.   
  
“It’s my quirk!” Izuku beamed at her. “I’m a gem, and since Kacchan has a Jasper necklace, I can fuse with him and make a new person, their name is Carnelian.”   
  
“Quirk use in public places is illegal,” the judge said hesitantly. Inko raised a hand, “If I may, your honor?”   
  
The judge nodded.    
  
“Izuku’s quirk can be subconsciously activated, especially when both he and a person he can fuse with are feeling similar emotions. Besides, we all know the quirk use law is lax for children.”   
  
The judge still looked hesitant, and Izuku grew nervous, before getting an idea. “I can show you!” He said to her, his smile quivering a bit.   
  
She contemplated, and then waved them through. It wouldn’t be the weirdest thing that had happened in her courtroom.    
  
Kacchan jogged up to the podium, giving Izuku a hug, they glowed, and were gone.   
  
“Sup?” Carnelian greeted. Everyone stared, shocked.    
  
People started whispering among themselves in awe of the quirk, which Carnelian wasn’t used to, but they grinned nethertheless. The judge soon got tired of the buzz of voices, and pounded her gavel.   
  
“Let’s continue.”   
  
The hearing proceeded with two less and one extra person.    
  
Hitoshi was taken back into the institution after that. He was glad he didn’t have to go back to his foster parents, and Inko had told him afterwards that the Bakugou’s had almost got their adoption license.   
  
He had also been messaging and Video calling Izuku and Katsuki, learning about them.    
  
“Mama’s found a really good house, and Papa might even move back to live with us all, he’s almost done with his work in America.” Izuku said.    
  
Katsuki’s head butted onto the screen, “Yep, and Dad’s happy because he loves Papa a lot. They do stupid drunk karaoke together and have baking competitions.”   
  
“Kacchan,” Izuku laughed.   
  
“It’s disgusting.”   
  
“Kacchan!!” Izuku took the tablet back.   
  
“What’s the new house like?” Hitoshi changed the subject, kicking his feet against his cot.   
  
“Mama says it used to be a farmhouse, so it’s not small like our apartments. It’s got giant sliding doors, and a biiiiig yard. Oh! It’s in the Saitama prefecture, which is cool because Musutafu, where we live right now, is only thirty minutes away. Which means-!”   
  
“That we’ll only be thirty minutes from UA but still in the countryside enough to use our quirks whenever we want.” Katsuki grinned, shamelessly proud of his interruption. 

Izuku looked stricken, “Kacchan! I wanted to say that!” He bopped Katsuki on the head with his notebook, which Hitoshi noticed.    
  
“Why do you have your notebook out? Did you write stuff down about the house?”   
  
Izuku flushed pink, “Of course I did!” He opened the notebook with a flourish, “Our house is in Tokorozawa, and it’s right by Totoro-no-mori, which is a forest with huge trees, named after Totoro! (You know Totoro, right?). Also it’s right next to a dam and a bunch of rice paddies, and there’s a stream and a bridge on the driveway! There’s a big house, with an outside bath house, and a water pump! There’s a school we can cycle to, or walk to, which is amazing!! Of course, I’ll just sit on the back of Katsuki’s bike. He doesn’t mind, because I don’t weigh much. You can ride to school with us! I waved at some of the other kids walking home when I went with Mom and they seemed really nice-“ Katsuki took the tablet once more, whispering,    
  
“He’s muttering again.”   
  
Hitoshi snickered.   
  


* * *

  
  
Mabe-San has shown up to their apartment (the Midoriya one) halfway through moving, with some interesting news.   
  
“I’m going to Tokorozawa as well! There’s a cheap office space there, with an apartment upstairs! Couldn’t leave my favorite patient behind.”   
  
Izuku and Inko were so touched that they fused, and Fluorite threw themselves at the doctor. “Mabe-kuuuun! I’m so happy! Oh my goodness ohhh my gosh!”   
  
“Fluorite you’re getting his shirt soaking wet.” Mitsuki pointed out.   
  
“I can’t help it! I’m always crying anyways!”   
  


* * *

A few weeks before they had to get Hitoshi, and then move, Hisashi arrived.   
  
“Papa!” Izuku ran into his arms. Katsuki, ever the brawler, went straight for the kneecaps.   
  
The giant went down, a puff of smoke escaping his lips as the breath was knocked out of him.   
  
“What’s this?” He roared, grabbing the two. He held Izuku in his arms, trapping Katsuki with his legs.   
  
“A DRAGON HATCHLING IS TRYING TO MAKE OFF WITH MY TREASURE?”   
  
Katsuki laughed, “HE’S MY TREASURE, SMOKE FOR BRAINS!”   
  
Izuku was tossed into the air, and adjusted his fall so he’d land on the tall man’s shoulders. Hisashi growled in mock-fury,   
  
“Smoke for brains? SMOKE FOR BRAINS?! I SHOULD CARVE YOU UP FOR DINNER, YOU LITTLE BLONDE TOOTHPICK!”    
  
Katsuki tried to back up through the legs, for a sneak attack, but his father grabbed his ankle and pulled him back fast.   
  
Katsuki shrieked with laughter, kicking at Hisashi’s slim wrists and freckled arms. His other dad, Masaru, was fun with quiet things, like reading and puzzles, but he would  _ never _ do anything like this. Izu actually liked Dad a bit more than Papa when it came to things like playing.   
  
He didn’t like getting too rough, in fear of his gem cracking. Speaking of, he watched as Izuku jumped down from Hisashi and trotted off to find his Dad.    
  
“Dad, Papa is here!” Izuku said into the nearly-bare design room. Masaru was taping up the last few boxes (He didn’t want the movers packing up his own personal work items), but he turned his head to see Izuku.    
  
“Is he now?”   
  
Izuku beamed, “Yep! And he probably brought back things from America! He’s wrestling with Kacchan right now.” He stood by the doorway, a handkerchief dress (A Bakugo original design he had copied) hanging down to his toes. He had too many clips in his hair to count.   
  
During the move, they had found dozens of ‘missing’ hair clips, and Izuku didn’t put them away like asked, instead adding them to his curls as they went.   
They were the only thing he liked to wear that wasn’t light-made, if only because he’d occasionally pull them out of his hair and stick them in his mouth. However, whenever Izuku proofed back into his gem, all clips he had been wearing would scatter across the floor. Which was probably why they were missing in the first place.   
  
Masaru set the tape aside and stood up, stretching his arms. “Let’s go see what your Papa is getting into now.” He picked up Izuku, settling the child on his hip.   
  
If there was something they’d never stop doing, it would be carrying Izuku. He was too light to grow out of it. Katsuki would eventually get too heavy to hold easily, but Izuku was literally just a gem.   
  
  
Katsuki and Hisashi were in a panting heap on the floor of the entrance. Hisashi hadn’t even taken his shoes off. Typical.   
  
He leaned against the doorway, tilting his head as Izuku sneaked a hand into his brown hair, playing with the strands.   
  
Eventually, Hisashi noticed him. He jumped to his feet, knocking Katsuki off, who had been laying on his stomach.   
  
“What the shit, Papa- oh hey Izuku, you got Dad.” The blonde pushed himself into a seated position.    
  
“Masaru! I missed you!!” Hisashi tried to jump at the other man, but Masaru sidestepped him with the ease of someone who’d been doing it for years. Hisashi crashed into the wall.    
  
“Don’t dent the wall,” Masaru said, “We’re selling this house, we can’t have any extra bills.” Izuku giggled into his shoulder.   
  
Hisashi looked betrayed, “Masaru! Didn’t you miss me?”   
  
“Take off your shoes as well. How much did America change you?” He was resisting the urge to join Izuku in his giggling, a smile pulling at the sides of his mouth.   
  
Hisashi pouted, taking his shoes off, “Jeeze, only Inko loves me. Everyone else in this family is a bully.”   
  
Masaru kissed him on the forehead, “I do love you, you’re just annoying, is all,” he said jokingly.   
  
“That does nothing to help your case, you realize.”    
  
Katsuki heard something, his head snapping to the door and running to open it.   
  
“Mom and Mama are home!!”   
  
He swung the door swung open, “Thank you, baby,” Inko said to him, “there’s a strange car parked in our usual spot, Masaru, is someone- HISASHI.” Inko dove at the man, knocking him to the floor.   
  
“She didn’t take her shoes off either, Dad.” Izuku whispered as Inko peppered her husband's cheeks with kisses.   
  
Mitsuki stomped inside, “Inko, I love him too, but you left me with all the fucking groceries.” She strained to carry them all.    
Masaru set Izuku on the ground, and took half from her, kissing her on the cheek.   
  
“Everyone is freaking kissing today. It’s gross.” Katsuki declared. Izuku gave him a big, sloppy kiss, and Katsuki squeaked. He rubbed his mouth, glaring daggers at the green haired child.    
  
“You did that on purpose,” he hissed. Izuku smiled,   
  
“Kisses are fun, Kacchan!” He stepped closer. Katsuki backed away.   
  
“The hell they are!”   
  
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Katsuki ran, and Izuku gave chase, dodging stacked boxes and leaping over packaging tape.   
  
The adults watched them, amused. 

“Izuku, make sure Katsuki wants to be kissed, because he might not be playing. You should always ask, every time,” Inko warned, arms around her husband.

Izuku paused, turning wide eyes to Katsuki, “Do you not wanna kiss?”

Katsuki huffed, “I’m just joking, I don’t  _ really  _ mind.”

  
Izuku cheered, and the chasing started back up again.   
  
“Let’s take these into the kitchen,” Mitsuki said, stepping heavily over to the aforementioned room, “We’ve cleaned out the fridge, so we can’t put things away in that, but we have some really big coolers with ice. We’ll take them with us, and the movers can pack the rest.”   
  
Hisashi jogged down the steps to the base floor, where the car was waiting. He grabbed the remaining groceries, closed the trunk, and headed back up.   
  
Mitsuki was sitting against a wall, stretching her arms.   
  
“So,” He said, “We’re going to pick up Hitoshi this week.”   
  
Inko smiled in between her attempt of shoving milk cartons in the coolers.   
  
“Yes, we told the agency that we’d like Hitoshi to move into the new house at the same time as us, and they agreed that it would help him adjust. So he’s being released a few weeks early.”   
  
He set the groceries down, “That’s good. They can all explore the place together, then. Does he have everything he needs?” He opened the bag,    
“What’s with all the seeds in here?”   
  
“Well, we had the Institution give us his measurements, and we bought him some clothes and books, but the kids share everything anyways.” Inko meandered over to him, “Oh you found the seeds! I’ve been looking!”   
  
“It’s a farm town Hisashi,” Mitsuki said, “Masaru is dead set on having a garden because he’s  _ Masaru _ .”   
  
“Why do you say that like it’s an insult? There’s nothing wrong with a garden,” Masaru retorted.   
  
In a few days, the movers arrived, very polite and formal.   
  
“We’ll be in charge of your move today,” they greeted. Inko, Mitsuki, and Masaru bowed back.   
  
The movers were fast. They set up sheets of blue cardboard to cover the hallways, then started packing with all sorts of special boxes and tape.   
  
Izuku and Katsuki could only stare in awe, having been hoisted onto the kitchen counter to be out of the way.    
  
One lady opened a cabinet by Katsuki’s head, and started getting plates out.    
  
“How are you gonna pack those?” Katsuki watched her with wary eyes.    
The woman smiled at him, and set up a box with rubber slots inside.    
“If I put the plates in here, it stops them from banging against each other and breaking during the move.”   
  
“Oooh I wanna see!” Izuku leaned over Katsuki’s lap, but Katsuki was enjoying talking to the lady by himself, so he shoved his sibling back.   
“You can see later.”   
  
Izuku stuck out his tongue, but lost interest in the lady quickly, watching a man lift up a cabinet. The man wiped the underneath, and put a cover on it. And then another cover, to fit on top of the first one.   
  
They looked like big socks. Izuku giggled to himself at the sight.   
  
Masaru looked awkward, standing stiffly to one side with Inko there patting his hand.   
  
Izuku knew Dad didn’t cope well with lots of people, so Mama was probably helping with that.   
  
His Papa, and Mom, however, were in their element.    
  
Mitsuki was telling people where things went, chatting as she went, explaining her new fashion line to an intently listening man. He was still working just as fast, but was obviously interested and talked with her about denim in children’s clothes.   
  
“Denim on older children looks fine, age two and up, go for it, I say. Especially overalls. But on babies? They always make them too tight. They can’t even move. My new line is specializing in cute play clothes, for outside and inside.” She waved a hand through the air, confident as she talked about her passion.   
  
The man nodded seriously, “My children, I have three, they’re all so outdoorsy, running around gardens and climbing old buildings. All of them wear loose shorts or leggings. Not even the knee shorts, only high shorts, because the knee shorts kept getting caught on things and ripped.” His hands moved quickly, sealing up boxes with different colored tape. The color marked whether they were fragile, needed to be opened immediately, or just regular items.   
  
Hisashi had fallen back into his ‘head scientist’ role, ordering people around dramatically. The workers didn’t seem to mind, mostly amused by his antics.   
  
“You there! That is from the kitchen, correct?” He pointed a finger. The young man, a teenager really, hid a smile behind a scaled tail.    
  
“Yes sir, it is.”   
  
“Those go in my car, not the truck, remember. Fate cannot be twisted by faulty placement!”   
  
Someone who was carrying out a bed snorted into his arm, disguising it as a sneeze.   
  
“Oh please don’t overwork yourself if you have a cold!” Inko fretted from the corner, hands bunching the front of her dress, wrinkling it.   
  
He turned pink, “Ah, um, it’s just dust ma’am. I’m not sick.” Of course he had actually been laughing at her husband, but he wasn’t going to just tell her that.   
  
The packing went on without a hitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I HAD TO LEARN ALL ABOUT JAPANESE MOVING COMPANIES. THEY ARE SUPER COOL (at least the expensive ones are). 
> 
> Also, the place they are going to live in is a real place, and their house is a real house and address i picked out from google maps and merged with the house plans/blueprints of a certain house.
> 
> Its a decently famous house in Anime, so i'm wondering if anyone can guess. I like to throw in occasional easter eggs.
> 
> also, ask kids for kisses! ask kids if you can hug and tickle and touch them if theyre old enough to give consent! kids are people too. We always ask kids in our family if we can kiss and hug them (and we're a very affectionate kissy huggy family) and if they say 'no' we dont kiss or hug them. if they dont say anything then we dont kiss or hug them. we teach them to ask as well. But yep!! I think it's a really healthy rule to have in a family, especially since in my family we kiss on the lips a lot (which sounds weird to some people but its literally just pecks, chill)
> 
> So yep! hope you like it! See more about the fic in the anthropology, which is updated sporadically.


	6. Apophylite: Overcoming Insecurities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hitoshi is coming home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More easter eggs to be found!! Thank you for all the support and comments so far!!

“How come they’re taking all our stuff in their truck?” Izuku asked, turned around in the backseat of the car, staring out the back window.   
  
“Because our car isn’t big enough to carry it all, Izu. It’s their job to help people move.” Katsuki pulled him back into his booster seat, fixing the seat belt.   
  
“Everyone ready?” Mitsuki grinned into the mirror, eyes falling onto the third booster seat, empty, on the left side.  _ Not for long _ , she mused. She waved at Inko, Hisashi, and Masaru, who were going ahead to start moving things into the house.   
  
“Yep!”    
  
“Katsuki, did you check Izuku’s seatbelt?”   
  
Katsuki groaned, “I literally just did, are you blind?”    
  
“Don’t give me that, Katsuki.” She narrowed her eyes, but Izuku came to the rescue as always.   
  
“Mom, he’s just angry because we had to say goodbye to our Martial Arts teachers today.”   
  
She started the car, backing up and getting on the road. Katsuki pouted at the window, resolutely not speaking.   
  
“What did they say, honey? Did you tell me? I know we were busy today.”    
  
Izuku lightly kicked his feet, “Yeah, they gave us a piece of paper and said that there was a retired hero duo who can teach us in Tokorozawa. Isn’t that so cool? Sensei said they were reaaaally old, like from when All Might was young!”   
  
“Oh that’s pretty old.”   
  
“Can they even teach then? The oldest person I know is Kanade-San, and she has to have help when she walks.”   
  
Kanade was the old lady across the hall, who used to watch Katsuki and Izuku when they went out on a date night occasionally.   
  
“I don’t know, Izuku. Maybe they have children to help teach?”   
  
He nodded rapidly, rambling about techniques and heroes, and things she didn’t understand much.    
  
Eventually Katsuki spoke up, “When are we going to get Hitoshi?”   
  
She stopped at a red light, turning back to face them for a second with a grin, “We’re almost at the Institution. It’s around this corner. You guys wait in the car while I get him, alright?”    
  
The two agreed, and she pulled into the parking lot. The Institution was a large building, like a school. Apparently the building used to be a high end boarding school called Endor College, but now it was named The Endor Institute.

There were lots of kids in the yard, running around. Most teens hung out in groups along the walls, but some were playing with the younger kids.   
  
Mitsuki rolled the windows down, and walked inside.   
  
Hitoshi was sitting in the front office, idly kicking his feet. He hugged a purple backpack to his chest, and jumped to his feet as she walked in.    
  
“Mitsuki!”    
  
She ruffled his hair, “How’s it hanging, kiddo?”   
  
He grinned, “ _ I’ve been waiting here for ages _ ,” He said silently.   
  
“ _ Sorry about that _ ,” she signed back, her movements clumsier and slower, but he still understood them pretty well.   
  
“Bakugou-San! How was packing?” The desk lady, Ayame, greeted. She started to take out paperwork.   
  
Mitsuki groaned, popping her back as she stretched, “Too much lifting,” she joked, “My back will never be the same. I’ll be walking around like a little old lady for months.”   
  
Hitoshi laughed from her side.

“And you?” Mitsuki asked. 

Ayame waved a careless hand, “Yubaba-sama and Zeniba-sama are fighting again. But they’ll sort it out eventually. I don’t know why they don’t just retire. Being the owners of an institution this big is stressful for two old sisters.”

Hitoshi had never met the women themselves, but he had definitely heard of them. Ayame finished writing things down and presented the papers with a flourish.   
  
“Alrighty then! Sign here,” She pointed, “And here, and then you can go!”    
  
Mitsuki signed in the spaces, and then turned to Hitoshi.    
  
“The kids are waiting in the car, is that everything you got?” He nodded, gripping his backpack tighter.   
  
“Bye!” He waved at Ayame, and grabbed Mitsuki’s hand.    
  
Kids stared as they walked to the gate, despite most of them already knowing he was going to be adopted. Adoptions were rare, most of them had resigned to growing up in the Institution.   
  
Some kids shot envious looks, but others waved at the quiet boy.   
  
He sheepishly waved back, feeling his face heat up at the sudden attention.   
  
The windows were rolled down after all, so he could see Izuku stretched across Katsuki to see out the window. Katsuki was half-heartedly attempting to shove him back, to no avail.   
  
“Hitoshiiiiii!” The gem cheered.    
  
Mitsuki laughed, walking him around to the other side of the car, and opened the door. The inside had organized bags hanging from the backs of the front seats, and a tub of blankets on the floor. All three boosters were All Might themed.   
  
  
Izuku was in the middle seat, practically vibrating in place while Katsuki laughed.   
  
“Get in you dummy!” Katsuki called, and Hitoshi shook himself out of his thoughts.   
  
“Get in! Get in!” Izuku chimed, holding out a hand. Hitoshi grabbed it, and pulled himself up into the seat.   
  
“My foster parents never used a car seat or anything,” he mumbled, making Mitsuki stick her head out around the trunk.    
“Do you need me to do it?”   
  
Before he could answer, she’d put the backpack in the trunk, closed it, and walked back to him. She clicked it in, not even taking five seconds, and shot them a thumbs up. His door closed.   
  
She got into the front seat, “Everyone ready? Katsuki check Izuku’s seatbelt-“   
  
“How come I have to do that every time?” He whined.    
  
“Because Izuku can fly out if it isn’t on just right.” She had obviously said this many, many times before.   
  
Katsuki muttered under his breath, but checked anyway.   
  
Izuku looked to Hitoshi, beaming. “Are you excited Hicchan?”   
  
Hitoshi blinked. “...Hicchan?”   
  
“Like how I’m Kacchan,” Katsuki supplied, reaching forward to grab a coloring book from the bags hanging on the seats in front of him.   
  
“Uh-huh! Because you’re going to live with us and be family, you get one too, like Kacchan!”   
  
“Oh,” Hitoshi tossed the nickname around in his head, deciding he liked it. “ _Thanks_.” He said, signing alongside his words.   
  
Izuku mimicked him, chopping his right hand at his left wrist and lifting them. “I know that one too! I’ve been watching a lot of videos about signing, it’s really cool.”    
  
Hitoshi turned pink.   
  
“Yeah, I like it a lot.” He twiddled with his thumbs.   
  
A silence ensued, both not knowing what to say. Katsuki paused in his artwork, crayon behind his ear.    
  
He sighed, “Mom, turn some music on will ya?”   
Hitoshi and Izuku turned to look at him, as Mitsuki slowed at an intersection, popping in a CD. She glanced up periodically, in case the light changed.   
  
Katsuki was looking out the window, his hair a shaggy curtain lit with morning light that bounced and flickered as their car passed trees and signs. He looked serious for all of two seconds, before scowling at his family, ruining his brief peaceful image.   
  
“Stop staring at me, I get tired of people being stupid, awkward idiots.”   
  
Izuku just smiled, used to Katsuki’s churlish attitude.    
  
Hitoshi wasn’t as adjusted, but welcomed the music as an end to the silence.   
  
“Tadaaa hitotsu no uta oooo utau tame niiii umaretaaa~” Izuku had abandoned the notion of chatter for one of his favorite songs. Hitoshi didn’t recognize it.   
  
Katsuki must’ve known it as well, because he sang the next verse, “Tada hitotsu no ai o utau tame ni umareta,” he sang, almost under his breath. He didn’t seem to love the song, but Izuku danced to the lively tune, as much as he could in his seat.   
  
“What is this?”    
  
Mitsuki grinned from the front seat, passing back a CD case. It depicted a town holding some kind of festival, there was a large building and stalls with people walking everywhere. In the top right corner he read a small word in romaji.   
  
“Car-na-val?” He sounded out the word.    
  
“Mm-hm! That’s the album name, the song is called Ai Yori Aoi Umi, by Shang Shang Typhoon.” Izuku told him, bopping his head.   
  
He still didn’t know who that was. Mitsuki happened to catch his confused look, as Izuku was oblivious to things like that, and Katsuki was zoned out in his All Might coloring book.   
  
“I would be surprised if you did know them, Hitoshi. Shang Shang Typhoon was a band from the 1980s and 90s. This album came out around 1990.”   
  
He gasped at her, “But- But that’s so old. It’s 2130!”   
  
“Ah, Masaru really likes old things. Old movies, old songs, anything pre-quirk era. Before quirks came along, people got by through hard work and creative thinking. I mean they did reach the moon without quirks.”   
  
Hitoshi rather liked talking to Mitsuki. He hadn’t ever talked to an adult that much. It was strange, but she was nice. Izuku put headphones on eventually, leaving the new mother and son to continue their chatter.   
  
She told him about the new place, and the movers.   
  
“Will you be alright with that many people around? If you aren’t, there’s a large garden connected to the woods. I don’t want you kids going in the woods just yet, but the yard is all yours.”   
  
He tossed the thought around his head, and nodded, signing along with his words, “I think I’ll be good, but what if I get dirty or something?”   
  
She laughed, long and loud, as if what he had said was ridiculous.    
  
“You’re a kid, and kids are practically made for dirt. Did you know I make clothes?”

He shook his head.   
  
“Yep! I’m a fashion designer and I make my own lines of clothes. Almost all of Katsuki’s and Izuku’s clothes are taken from my line, or from designers that I personally know. And guess what?” Her eyes glittered, and for a split second she actually seemed younger, more carefree than he was.   
  
“I’ve seen those clothes covered in mud. Sure, Izuku can just poof and reform, and the dirt just falls to the floor, but Katsuki? Oh you don’t wanna know.”   
  
Oh but he did. “What does he do?”   
  
“Freaking nothin’,” Katsuki mumbled. He had a color palette of sorts going on for his coloring book, but no place to put his chosen colors. So the crayons were shoved in his mouth.   
  
Izuku noticed, and grabbed a crayon from the box and stuck it in his mouth as well, except he bit into it, chewing it up like food. He swallowed.   
  
“You’d better not leave dust in my car.” Mitsuki warned him, lowering the headphone volume for a second so he could hear her. He made an ‘ok’ sign with his hand.   
  
“What was I saying again? Oh riggght, Katsuki.”   
  
He leaned forward in his seat, watching her face through the front mirror reflection.   
  
“Katsuki’s quirk is Explosion, he sweats nitroglycerin. He’s blown up his clothes before, I have to make all his clothes fire-resistant. And he gets muddy all the time, romping through forests and parks. They come back home, Izuku is as clean as can be, and Katsuki looks like some kind of mud monster.”   
  
“I _ do not _ !”   
  
She changed the subject before he could get more heated, “Look outside everyone, we’re entering Tokorozawa!”   
  
Headphones, Crayons, and any previous conversations were abandoned in favor of pushing their faces to the windows. Mitsuki laughed and rolled them down.   
  
“This is Tokorozawa?” Izuku asked. He was half in Hitoshi’s lap, and his hair was blowing straight into Hitoshi’s mouth. He shoved the gem over to Katsuki, who glared at him for shirking his sibling on him.    
  
“Well actually it’s Kamiyaguchi, but it’s in Tokorozawa. We’re a few minutes away from the house, look there’s the Middle School!”   
  
“Where’s the Elementary School?” Hitoshi couldn’t see one. The Middle School was hardly visible, down a road of houses, peeping above trees in the horizon. 

“Further up the road, across the woods.”   
  
They kept driving, and Mitsuki turned right, then left, heading onto a street of houses behind the main road.   
  
“There’s the rice fields,” she yelled over a sudden gust of wind, pointing with one hand. There wasn’t a lot, maybe four or five, but there were people in them, baskets in hand. They waved.   
  
“Wooah they have all their trees and plants all fancy.” Katsuki said as they neared another turn.    
  
“That’s a Buddhist temple. They take care of the gardens. There’s a lot of temples around here, because of the forest.”   
  
Izuku found another entertaining garden from one of their new neighbors, “It’s Totoro!” He cheered, waving at the hedge, which was cut to look like the character, and even had plastic teeth and eyes attached.   
  
As they neared the top of the road, the houses stopped, leaving just one spaced out at the top. A familiar car was parked, and the movers were coming in and out of the truck like ants.   
  
They stared at the house.   
  
“Are we gonna  _ live _ in that?” 

It was said in a whisper, a quiet childish husk. Katsuki was unblinking, so much in awe, he hadn’t realized he had spoken.   
  
Izuku had been struck silent in contained excitement rather than wonder. He actually flickered with nervous energy. His hair was floating against his will, curling and twisting, mimicking the movements of his fingers wringing the hem of his collar.    
  
  
The house, which was definitely bigger than an apartment, was two stories, with a separate bathhouse and a shed. There was a large garden on the left, empty of plants except a large patch of strawberries. The doors to the house were wooden sliding doors with window panels, the top having a balcony, with sliding glass doors. All of the doors were open, movers outside padding boxes to those already inside, who already had shoes off and were helping unpack.   
  
Izuku took off his seatbelt as fast as he could, leaping over Hitoshi in a tangle of limbs. He fumbled for the car door, opened it, and landed on gravel, making a dash for the house.   
  
He spun on his heel, flashing the people still in the car a cheeky wave.    
  
Mitsuki snorted, and Hitoshi still wasn’t sure what had happened, but Katsuki snarled, and left the car as well, using the slam of the door as a race whistle.   
  
Hitoshi watched them leave, hands fisted in his shirt.

“Why don’t we go check out the house together?” Startled, he jumped, looking back at Mitsuki, who stepped out and opened his door once more. She helped him down, and took his bag out of the trunk.   
  
They walked up to the step (just one), spotting a pair of sneakers, a sign Katsuki and Izuku were inside.    
  
Izuku’s All Might sandals were nowhere to be seen, and had most likely been poofed off his feet.   
  
He took off his own shoes, Mitsuki stepping out of her flats and placing both pairs with Katsuki’s.   
  
The wide hallways were filled with beams of natural light, and dust from all the moving was visible in little particles in the air.   
  
The floors were old and creaked as they walked, movers were crouched in the large rooms, little middle-aged women in aprons were helping unpack, and there was Masaru, Inko, and a man Hitoshi recognized as Hisashi.    
  
Hisashi was helping organize, while Inko put photo albums away on a shelf, chatting to the women about baby photos.   
  
Hitoshi had the sudden, intrusive thought of ‘they don’t have any of my baby photos to show, I don’t have any.’   
  
He shook it away as Hisashi noticed them and skipped, literally  _ skipped _ , over to the doorway.   
  
“Mitsuki you’re here!” The blonde let herself be hugged, growling, “Get off! You’re embarrassing me!”    
  
She was smiling though, so the hug was probably welcome.   
  
Hisashi let go and stood over him, “And here’s Hitoshi, nice ta meetcha bud.”   
  
“You’re tall,” Hitoshi said, ears burning pink as he realized his own words.    
  
Hisashi just laughed, “Well we know your eyes are sharp, then. Call me Hisashi, or Papa, or anything you want. Not Dad though, that’s his thing,” he jutted a thumb in the direction of Masaru, who stuck his head out of a box and sneezed, as if on cue.   
  
Hitoshi felt his lips twitch, “Thanks, I’ll remember that.”   
  
Just then, thumps were heard from the stairs, sounding like one set of footsteps, but it was clear there were two when Izuku ran past and jumped off the house, shoes appearing midway as he rolled onto the grass.   
  
Katsuki thundered past, grabbing his shoes and shoving them on, before landing in the grass as well. They ran off.   
  
“You’re not going to play with the kids outside?” They both looked out the open door, seeing that Izuku had climbed a tree that neighbored another, and when Katsuki started to climb one, the gem simply jumped to the other.   
  
“Oh what are they doing?!” Inko speed walked to the doorway, cupping her hands around her mouth.   
  
“IZU BE CAREFUL NOT TO FALL AND CRACK, BABY!!”   
  
Izuku yelled back, “IT’S OK, IT'S ALL MOSS AND GRASS, THERE’S NOTHING HARD!!”   
  
“STILL BE CAREFUL!”    
“I AM!!”   
  
”I’ve never seen a little girl scale a tree that fast,” one of the workers commented. Inko laughed and agreed, going back to her work. She paused, “Actually, Mitsuki, can you come help me with these? I’m afraid I’ll mix up the color schemes again.”   
  
“Sure thing hon, be right there.” Mitsuki glanced between Hitoshi and Hisashi, “Kiddo, why don’t you go check out the kids room with Papa, ok?”   
  
Hitoshi didn’t really want to leave Mitsuki, but he also really wanted to check out his room, which would be shared with Katsuki and Izuku.   
  
He didn’t mind sharing, the Institution had far more kids in a much smaller space, and his room at That House had basically been a large closet fitted with a bed and shelves.   
  
He nodded, and switched from Mitsuki’s smooth, petite hand, to the much larger palm of Hisashi.   
  
Hitoshi brought the hand closer to his face for a minute, “Your hand has spots and stripes.”   
  
Hitoshi, juggling with Hitoshi’s bag, finally settled it on his other shoulder, and looked down, seeming surprised himself.   
  
He then noticed what Hitoshi was talking about, and laughed, “Oh, those are scars.”

“But they look funny?” 

Hisashi waved for the child to follow him, feet thumping across the floor, even in socks. He started to head upstairs.

“Yes! that’s because I....am a physicist!” His free arm flung out in a flourishing motion, nearly knocking Hitoshi down the stairs. 

Hitoshi grabbed the arm, pulling it back down, “What’s a fi-sis-sist?”

“A physicist is a scientist who studies nature and energy. I specialize in astrophysics, so I try to explain how space works. I end up doing a lot of experiments, and some go wrong, leaving scars, usually on my hands.”

“Ohhh. So you’re smart right? Don’t scientists live in cities?”

They had almost reached the top, and had stalled in the doorway, which wasn't even a doorway as much as it was a sliding panel in the roof.. “I actually have a very good reason for that, but first!” The door was pushed aside, and they headed up. 

“Woahh…” 

The room was big, the panel-door was in the center of the room, and there were slanting walls, telling of an attic. The walls had beds built into them, two beds, both king sized.

“Those are adult beds,” He said, confused. Hisashi hummed, admiring the movers fast work and the surrounding boxes.

“Yep, you guys can sleep in each other's beds, since they're so big, but we want you to grow into them. Plus we built the bed frames into the walls. Izuku’s bed is over there.” He pointed to one of the windows, which was a cozy-hole of pillows and soft things, mostly in a mess of red, blue, pink.

The walls were mostly yellows and whites, with random cupboards and sections of wall in other pastel colors.

“Come look at this!” Hisashi was at the window. When Hitoshi joined him, he pointed out at the trees.

“You see that big building over there? That’s my lab. It has a really big telescope, which is why we chose to move here.” 

“Woaaah.” However, the building became boring to look at after a minute, and he decided to scan the rest of the room. It was an empty, open space.

What caught his attention was the large section of floor, about eight foot lengthwise and five foot wide, extending to a corner. It was gone, and there was a net in its place.

“What? What is that?” He pointed, “Can I get on?” 

Hisashi beamed, “Sure thing, it’s a hammock, kind of. We had to repair a large amount of the house because it’s so aged, and that section of floor was old, so we ripped it all out. Instead of putting new floors down, Masaru looked up some newer designs, called some friends, and they built this.” 

Hitoshi looked over the net, observing below what seemed to be the kitchen.

“It was actually cheaper than new floors, and the net is knitted close enough that if Izuku poofs, her gem won’t fall right through.”

“Her?”

“Izuku can go by anything, we just say ‘he’ because it’s the one more commonly used in the house. The movers are under the impression that Izuku is a little girl, and we don’t mind them thinking that, so we’ve switched pronouns.” Hisashi said it casually, like he was discussing the weather. 

Maybe to him, it was casual.

“We’ll continue to build the room as we live here, any requests? It can be as crazy as you want, we can make it work.” Hisashi changed the subject. He took a tablet from his satchel, stylus at the ready.

“Uhhhm…” Hitoshi looked around, his eyes trailing to the high ceiling and the beams built into the slope for support. “Maybe like, a more private hammock up there? With a ladder? I’d pick a tent but you can’t hang a tent.”

Hisashi snorted, “We can do anything, you’ll get your tent.”

Hitoshi couldn’t help but doubt the words, despite Hisashi’s easy going confidence.

* * *

Izuku and Katsuki soon joined them, unpacking boxes of toys and bags of clothes. 

“Anything you want, munchkin?” Hisashi asked. 

Izuku hummed, unboxing magazines and adding them to an enormous stack that was beginning to waver, “I waaaant, hiding places. Everywhere. And an orca!” 

At this, Hisashi quirked an eyebrow, “An Orca?”

“Like Gang Orca. He’s scary but I like him.”

Hisashi made an interested noise, wrote some things down, and finally said, “Ok, I’ll pass this to your Dad, and he can show his architect and building friends. Katsuki?”

An answering growl was heard from across the room, where Katsuki was trying (and failing) to fold a winter coat.

“Anything you want in the room?”

Instantly Katsuki looked up, and walked over, glad for a distraction from work. “Any limits?”

Hisashi thought about it.

From what Hitoshi has seen so far, Hisashi did a lot of thinking and he thought about everything under the sun. 

Hitoshi believed he was just a very thoughtful person. 

“Just be reasonable, no pools inside, or zoos, anything like that,” The older man finally said, waving his stylus through the air.

“Then I want climbing and exercise gym stuff. I wanna be able to go across without touching the floor. Like a hero gym!”

Hitoshi thought that was an awesome idea. “Me too! I want that too!” He said, before switching to sign, “Please please please!” His hands were fast, and his fingers were tight. He kept balling them up between words as he waved them about.

Izuku was right behind him, “Hero gym! Hero gym!” She cheered, spinning around on one foot.

Hisashi looked around, scanning the room and writing some things down, “Well who am I to deny these kinds of persuasive measures?”

“We didn’t measure anything.” Katsuki said.

“It means you did a good job at convincing me.”

“Oooh,” the three said.

(And eventually, Hitoshi got his hanging tent.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The house and streets, even the totoro shaped bush, is all irl. I literally went into google maps street view and walked down their street to their house to see what the sights might be. Also i love shang shang typhoon and other 80's japanese music, check the anthropology for more about that!! i got spotify playlists mah bois


	7. Prehnite: Unconditional Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Let's go frog hunting, Zuku!"
> 
> "Kay!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> guess who couldnt get a chance to update? yep. me. 
> 
> the same me who is lowkey failing my A&P class, eyyyy. I've just been so so so tired lately, and ive started working out more. I just didnt manage to grab time, sorrrryyy. SO TODAY, TWO CHAPTERS.
> 
> ALSO! The Easter eggs from the last chapter or two! All Ghibli. 
> 
> The house they live in is a more modern design of the house from my neighbor totoro, just a bit more modern. I got my hands on the blueprints of the house, and my dad wanted to be an architect (Dropped out of art school) so I had him redesign the house with me. Same location too! Totoro No Morí is a real place called Totoro’s forest!
> 
> Also, the Institution is called Endor, formerly Endors College, which is a reference to the school from Mary and The Witches Flower. The two lady owners are the same witches from Spirited away. The twin sisters.

Shortly after they were all moved in, Masaru did indeed call all his design and architect friends, and they walked around the room and took measurements of everything. They started building after a week of planning, and the kids were banished outside while the work went on during daylight hours.

“Do ya wanna come adventure with us, Toshi?” Katsuki peered up at his brother from under his straw hat. He was covered in a special sunscreen that could mix with his nitroglycerin sweat. Katsuki sunburned surprisingly easily, despite his explosions not hurting a bit.

Hitoshi shook his head from his spot in the tree-nest. The tree-nest was a bunch of sticks Izuku had tied and secured to the branches of the tree like a nest. It was filled with blankets and pillows, and had a tarp they put on top in case it rained.

“I’m going to listen to this, it’s about fairies and they team up with the heroes to help this dragon, and save the day and stuff.”

Hitoshi had discovered he rather liked audiobooks, and Mama had added several to his tablet. He had a tin full of bell pepper slices next to him with a jar of grape juice, and he was completely ready to do nothing.

“Are you sure, Hitchaaaan?” Izuku cupped his hands around his mouth, “It’ll be fuuuun!!”

“I’m sure!”

Izuku turned to his blonde brother and shrugged, pouting. Hitoshi had been playing with them, but he needed private time a lot. Mama said it was because he was used to being alone, and to not push him.

“We’ll bring you back something!” Katsuki declared, and Hitoshi tossed him a bell pepper slice in thanks.

Katsuki and Izuku trekked into the forest, bare feet crunching on leaves and twigs. 

“Look at how big this Moss is!” Izuku grabbed a bit, and put it into Katsuki’s backpack. 

“Cool stick! Kacchan look at how cool it is!” He shoved it into Katsuki’s backpack.

“Oooh river stones! I love river stones!”

Katsuki’s bag was getting pretty heavy, he ignored it, though. “Are there any frogs in that river?”

It wasn’t really a river, so much as a stream, but it seemed deep to them.

Izuku stuck his head into the water and looked around, before coming back out. Water just dropped through him onto the ground, leaving him looking dry again, “Nope!”

“Damnit, all I wanna do is catch a frog. Don’t forget our mission Izu.”

“If we have a frog, then can they tell us the right way to jump?” Izuku hopped a few times.

“Well, they can’t tell us, because frogs can’t talk. But we can watch them jump and have frog races and stuff.”

Izuku nodded, enthusiastic. They kept walking, Izuku talking about anything and everything.

They found several streams, but no frogs.

“Where could they be?!” Katsuki kicked a rock into the water, hand flying to his head to prevent his hat from falling off with the force.

“Maybe we should follow the frog noises.” Izuku said from high in a tree, watching the destruction of the riverbed below.

Katsuki turned his head up sharply, “What noises?”

“Those ones!” Izuku waves a hand to the left, swinging his feet. Katsuki was suddenly oh-so aware of the cacophony of frog calls coming from that direction.

“Why didn’t you say something?!” He raced after the noise. 

“Hey! Kacchan wAIT UP!” Izuku swung off of the lowest branch and landed lightly on the ground, darting after his brother. 

He caught up pretty quick, Katsuki was more careful when running not to step on anything sharp, but Izuku has no such qualms and could full-on sprint.

The frogs grew louder, and the stream grew a bit wider. There were a lot of bushes around where all the frog sounds were coming from.

“Kacchan look!” Hanging on a branch was a small dark green linen dress, with sandals.

“Someone’s naked with the frogs?” Katsuki’s brows furrowed. Who would want to do that? Frogs were slimy.

They walked past the bush, and actually screamed as what must have been  _ hundreds _ of frogs all turned to look at them from a pond, along with a girl their age, who was submerged in the water up to her eyes.

“What the shit?” Katsuki whispered into the silent air. All the frogs had stopped croaking once they stepped into the clearing.

The girl stood up in the water, evidently wearing bug-print underwear. He’d never seen a girl wearing bug print underwear. He definitely hadn’t ever seen a girl wearing  _ just _ bug print underwear. If she was a girl, that is. 

But at least she wasn’t naked in that nasty pond. It was a very muddy brown color, and didn’t look like the freshest place to swim.

“Why are you swimming with frogs?” Izuku asked. 

“I have a frog quirk, Kero.” She said, which seemed accurate. She definitely looked like a frog person.

She just stood there, water dripping from her hair, and a few frogs still atop her head. She tipped them off into the water and trudged out. 

Katsuki looked her up and down, “Can you jump like a frog then?”

She nodded, reaching for her clothes, and pulled her dress over her head. It quickly turned dark as it became wet, but she didn’t seem to mind that much.

“What’s your name?” He walked straight up to her and looked her in the eyes.

“Asui Tsu.” 

“You don’t talk much?” This time it was Izuku, who let a curious little frog jump up on his finger.

She shook her head, “Frogs don’t talk, Kero.”

“Ohhh that makes sense.” He nodded, before losing his confidence, “But...I’m a crystal. I’m a rock. Rocks don’t make any sound at all and I can talk just fine. How come I do that?”

Tsu actually shared his conflicted look, “I just, don’t like talking, Kero.” She offered, weakly.

He lit back up, “Our new brother Hitoshi is like that sometimes. He isn’t used to talking. He can do sign language though, can you?”

She nodded, signing an affirmative. 

“I’ve decided!” Both green haired children jumped, looking to Katsuki, who tipped his sun hat. “You can come back to our house and swim in our pool. Then you can wear dry clothes, our Mom has tons of clothes that could fit you.”

Izuku clapped his hands in delight. Their Mom was a world renowned fashion designer after all, and she did have an entire children’s line. Obviously she would have clothes on hand.

Tsu seemed to think about it, before nodding and saying, “Kero.”

Izuku was in a rush to leave, grabbing Tsu’s sandals and picking up one of her feet, nearly knocking her down if it wasn’t for Katsuki moving behind her.

Izuku buckled her sandals on startlingly fast for someone who had never worn actual shoes before.

The second the last strap was done, they stood her up and began pulling her along the path, water dripping off her long hair into the moss. She waved to the frogs as she left.

…

Hitoshi was expecting them to be out for a while, but after an hour, he noticed them leaving the forest, with an added third person. He wrinkled his brow, pausing his audiobook and tucking the tablet and headphones into his back. He closed the container of snacks and packed that up as well, before covering his spot with the tarp and swinging down from the nest.

“Who’s that?” He asked. They jumped, like they hadn’t known he was there, but recovered pretty quick.

“Hitcchan this is Tsu! She’s got a frog quirk and can speak sign like you!”

Hitoshi gave her a once over, not quite believing them, “ _ Can you really sign _ ?” he asked with his hands.

“ _ I can _ ,” she replied, long fingers easily forming the words.

He beamed at her, extending a hand that she took, and started leading her into the house. His siblings were left to catch up.

“Mom! Momma!” Izuku was the first inside, of course. He didn’t need to physically take off his shoes, running straight into Mitsuki’s office. She held up a finger to silence him, motioning to the phone in her hand, and continued speaking in French.

Izuku fisted a hand in the loose flannel of her shirt, a technique they used when adults were talking, to silently let them know that they wanted to say something.

Mitsuki smiled at him, “Ah, sorry Hiyori. My kid just walked in, I don’t know what he wants to tell me, they probably caught a frog or-“

At this moment the rest of the children ran inside the room, and Mitsuki paused, whispering, “Oh my god they found a frog _ girl _ .”

“What?” Hiyori asked, confused. Hiyori was Mitsuki’s personal assistant, and she took Mitsuki’s place in most things that needed travel. She was currently in France, and she wondered if the escargot she had eaten was bad, because surely she wasn’t hearing right.

“Repeat that, Mitsuki?”

Mitsuki laughed with disbelief, making Izuku giggle at her side. “I’m not even kidding, my kids went out to look for frogs, and they brought back a child with some kind of amphibious quirk.”

“Frog, Kero.” Tsu supplied, nodding seriously. 

“We caught the ULTIMATE FROG!!” Katsuki yelled, grinning.

“Right, frog. Um I guess I’ll have to call back. Email me about the sales, alright?”

“Sure thing! You go figure out, whatever that is.” Hiyori was glad she didn’t have children. Too much work, she thought, as she sipped her sixth cup of coffee. Work was much easier, anyways. 

Emailing the sales for eighteen different lines? It seemed like she had another all-nighter ahead of her.

Mitsuki set her phone down. “So, who’s your friend?”

“Her name is Tsu, and she doesn’t like to talk. She needs clothes,” Katsuki answered.

“Tsu, do you know sign?” Tsu nodded, signing an affirmative.

Mitsuki sighed in relief, “Do you know your parents phone number?” Another nod.

She held out her appointment book and flipped it to a section for phone numbers, “Can you write it down for me, then we can get you dressed.”

Tsu did, in a messy halfazard scribble, write down the phone number, before sticking her thumb in her mouth, clothes dripping water into a puddle beneath her.

She was smaller than Izuku, which made Izuku think she must be younger, but then again being smaller and more compact made sense for someone with a frog quirk.

“She needs clooothes!” Izuku sang, stuffing the collar of his shirt into his mouth, most likely a triggered response from seeing Tsu stick her thumb in her mouth. Mitsuki wondered if the girl would mind using one of Izuku’s chewing necklaces instead.

Obligingly she motioned for the girl to follow, calling at Hitoshi in an afterthought, “Hon, don’t wear that undershirt, it’s too hot outside!”

Hitoshi scowled down at his attire, baggy linen pants, a long sleeved black shirt, and a tank top over it. He was getting hot, but he really liked the black shirt, even though Mitsuki labeled it as ‘Winter Clothing.’

“You can still wear long sleeves, just in a brighter color. Black absorbs light and heats up faster.” Izuku quipped, like the science nerd he was. Izuku took after Hisashi a lot, he had noticed.

Hitoshi pouted but begrudgingly shuffled off to the attic room, even though Masaru and his worker friends were still up there working. He’d just change in the closet.

Back with Mitsuki, she walked the girl to her sewing room.

“How old are you, Tsu?” She asked, as the small girl dropped water onto the floor. 

She looked around six, so Mitsuki was a bit surprised when she muttered, “Seven, kero.”

She had a small croaky voice, matching her quirk, and she must’ve been small for her age. They thought Izuku was small for eight, but this girl took the cake. Maybe she had just turned seven?

“You can pick and put on whatever you want, I have towels in the corner there.

Tsu nodded, trotting off to the racks smiling. Mitsuki picked up her cell, dialing the number on the paper.

It picked up after two rings, and a similarly croaky face answered. 

_ “Hello?” _

“Ah, Hello! This is Bakugou Mitsuki, I moved into the house at the end of Kamiyamaguchi.”

_ “Oh, welcome to the neighborhood, Bakugou-San! How did you get this number, though? Not that I mind the call.” _

Mitsuki watched as Tsu put on a fluffy white skirt, and pulled a short creek themed shirt with a flower on it over it. She then hopped across the room to the socks.

“Well, funny story. My kids were looking for frogs in the woods, and found your daughter, she says her name is Tsu, in a pond there.”

The woman laughed,  _ “She does like to wander off into the woods, my Tsu. Has she been speaking to you?” _

“Not much, but it’s fine, our family knows a bit of sign language. I’m a clothes designer, so she’s putting on some new dry clothes from my children’s line.”

_ “Oh you didn’t have to-“ _

_ “ _ As a mother and a designer I can’t let any child stay in wet clothes, even though I could tell she liked them. Will you be coming to pick her up… oh my god I never got your name.”

The other woman giggled,  _ “My name is Beru. I’ll come pick her up, but I’d have to bring my son, Samidare, as well.” _

Mitsuki gave her the address, and hung up shortly after. She turned to Tsu, who had her wet shoes and clothes hanging from her fingers.

“Let’s throw those in the dryer, your Mama is coming for lunch. What do you think we should make?”

“ _ Jelly _ ,” the girl signed, bouncing in place. Mitsuki ran over ingredients for Jelly in her head. 

“I think we can have jelly, but we’ll have some other things too, alright?” Tsu nodded, and they left for the laundry room. 

“Watch this,” she told Tsu, and pointed to a device on the wall. She pressed a button, “Our kids found a little girl named Tsu in the woods, and her mother is coming to pick her up and eat lunch with us!”

The words echoed across the house, being broadcasted on speakers on the ceilings of the rooms.

“Pretty cool, huh?”

“Kero.”

“Let’s go back to the others and you can play in the living room.”

She led her back and left her with the other three excited children, entering the kitchen to find Inko in a panic, as usual.

“I didn’t plan for guests, Mitsuki! What are we going to eat, I don’t have anything ready. Our house is a mess, and there are workers over and-“

“Hun, don’t worry. I got this. We’re making jelly.”

“Do you even  _ know _ how to make jelly?!”

Mitsuki cracked her knuckles, and tossed her smartphone at Inko, who used her quirk to help catch it. 

“Nope. Look up a recipe. She should be here in fifteen minutes.”

….

It turned out jelly was very easy to make, and they popped it in the fridge to cool. They had decided to make a fruit and vegetable salad while the water boiled.

Time passed without them realizing, the methodical chopping of produce and the Celtic background music from the movie the kids were watching seemed to drown out their thoughts. Occasionally they could hear the kids giggle at each other or talk a bit before getting distracted by the film once more.

Gravel crunched loudly from outside, and a truck rolled up the driveway.

A  _ very _ pregnant woman carefully hopped out, and started opening the car door to get her toddler.

Mitsuki and Inko were there in a flash, helping her with bags and getting the kid out, all in all fluttering about the woman.

“Nice to meet you! I’m Mitsuki, this is my girlfriend Inko.” She hesitated, “We have a bit of a unique living situation.” Inko nodded dutifully beside her.

Beru’s face was flush with the heat of the sun and the exercise of getting out of the car. One arm rested on top of her bump, an instinctive action all pregnant women find themselves doing at one point. 

She was even more frog-like in appearance than Tsu, and the little boy tugging her hand was the same, babbling about everything and anything.

“I’m very used to unique,” she said with a smile, “I’m Asui Beru, and this is Samidare.”

The boy wasn’t paying any attention to them, crouched down to watch beetles scuttle across the dirt by his scuffed untied shoes.

“Would you want to come inside to the AC, it’s so hot outside here, I’m cooking in my clothes.” Mitsuki laughed, and Inko, demure as ever, opened the doors and helped her up the stairs while stuttering out pleasantries.

Beru laughed, and she seemed like a happy, talkative person. Maybe Tsu took after her father?

Inside, before they sat down, Beru poked her head into the living room to greet Tsu. Samidare decided it would be more fun to watch the television with the others. The living room was special, the couches were sunk into the floor, making it a popular cozy-hole for the kids. There were still couches for adults but it cleared space. 

Tsu waved casually, “Kero!” She said, and turned back.

Whether she was turning back to the television, which was playing Brave, or to Izuku and Katsuki who were enthusiastically quoting the movie in choppy English (compete with over the top Scottish Accents), they weren’t sure.

Beru smiled, “That’s normal,” she told the other two, in case they were confused at her daughters lack of response.

“Tsu has her own way of saying ‘Hi’, since I don’t think she understands that we leave and come back. She could’ve been gone for days in those woods, not that we’d let that happen, but she’d greet me the same way.”

“Like a cat?” Inko asked.

Beru laughed, “No, like a frog.”

Mitsuki slid into a padded seat with a mug of black tea. She liked other tea just fine, but there was something about black tea that was addicting.

It was the high caffeine level, probably.

Inko seemed to prefer to be busy, getting the kids bamboo plates out and cutting the jelly, adding some salad and fruit to the plates along with it.

  
  


“Samidare-kun won’t get bored by the movie, will he? It’s in English, but we have subtitles on for Hitoshi and Tsu.”

Beru leaned back and glanced around the corner once more, “Oh I think he’ll be fine. Young children don’t really have a language preference as long as they like what they’re watching. Does this mean Izuku and Katsuki know English?”

“They both know English and French, and Katsuki has a solid grasp of Spanish. Izuku is fluent now though. Izuku is trying to learn Chinese, but it’s such an extensive language so it’s slow going. Katsuki seems to do well in Russian so far, I’m hoping he won’t just quit when it gets difficult,” Mitsuki said.

Beru looked surprised, “That’s a lot. How’d you teach them that many?”

“My job makes me travel a lot. Inko learned from me and she studied a lot of languages after high school. Their fathers also speak a few. Whatever we don’t know and they want to learn, there’s apps for that. Like Russian.”

“And Hitoshi-kun doesn’t know any?”

“Hitoshi is a recent addition, adopted a few weeks ago. He’ll start if he wants to,” Inko answered easily, waving a wooden spoon, “Oh, do your kids eat vegetables and fruits and stuff? Tsu just asked for jelly, but she didn’t say anything else.” 

“Oh they don’t mind the veggies, they’ll eat them, and they love fruit. Other parents are always surprised that they like them,” Beru said, pushing hair away from her sweaty temples.

  
  


Mitsuki leaned back in her chair and grabbed a pack of wet wipes off of the counter, and passed them to Beru, who beamed.

“Izuku and Katsuki love them, but Hitoshi isn’t keen on the taste yet. He eats them of course, but that child eats anything we put in front of him.”

Beru nodded, “Is it hard having three? Tsuyu has always been quiet and likes to explore, but Samidare is always into everything and anything that’s directly around him.” She paused, trying to think of a way to explain it.

“He stays in one spot, or in the area, but it’s like he’s determined to touch everything in that spot. He finds things I haven’t even seen. And now Satsuki is on the way-”

“How far along are you?” Inko interjected, grabbing wooden forks and spoons.

“Eights months. She’s been my hardest so far, so I don’t think we’ll be having any more after this.”

They talked idly for a few more minutes, easily falling into conversation. 

Beru asked if there were people upstairs, as she had seen the other cars outside. Mitsuki told her that yes, her husband was upstairs with his friends, building the children’s room.

“I thought you were dating?” Beru glances between them, confused. 

“We’re polyamorous. It’s why we live together.” Mitsuki said easily, eyes staring steadily at the other woman, looking for signs of judgement.

The confusion cleared from Beru’s face, and smiled, “Ah, that makes sense. I was wondering why you wore a wedding ring, Mitsuki-San.”

Inko breathed a sigh of relief. Nowadays, with quirks and whatnot, most relationships were accepted, but there were always religious types or people who just didn’t like it.

They called the kids into the kitchen, who, as predicted, ate the salad.

Tsu took great enthusiasm in eating the jelly, signing ‘thank you’ several times as the plate was brought to her. She bounced in her seat, kicking her feet.

Izuku copied her, slowly eating. He ate everything slowly, and his parents guessed it was because he wasn’t eating because he was hungry, he just ate to experience eating.

The Asui’s stayed a bit longer before leaving, but showed up again the next day, and the next. Sometimes it was just Tsu, sometimes it was Beru and her children driving up with snacks.

As often as she was at their house, they were at hers, which they could walk through a path in the woods to, or drive down the road to.

Her husband was at work most of the day, and she liked their company. Beru helped them become familiar with the area, and she became a familiar face in the house.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter facts!
> 
> Its fun to catch frogs and salamanders and newts, as long as you have buckets and dont handle them with your hands too much!!
> 
> Tsu doesn't give a crap about clothes, like my little sister, who's almost nine, and has always had a tendency to walk around naked (or half-naked nowadays) Also, bug print undies are cute.
> 
> ALSO WE STAN BABY KATSUKI IN GIANT SUNHATS BC HE'S BLOND. AND BLONDS BURN.
> 
> Oh, and Tsuyu is selectively mute as a kid. She's grows out of it as she gets older, but its something that is common among neurodivergent kids, especially if they arent pushed out of it by parents and teachers. M ymom taught us basic asl as kids, and we were allowed to use it whenever we wanted. i typically used it when i was in public places like restaurants bc ugh new people amirite?
> 
> Also, Beru is badass. It isnt really mentioned, but she's having a pretty hard pregnancy. Poor Beru.


	8. Garnet: Strength and Safety

“Beru-San! Beru-San!” Izuku ran up to her, holding a piece of paper.

“What is it, Izu-Chan?” Beru asked, cutting tomatoes. She set the knife on the counter as he handed her a crumpled note.

On the note was an address and the names of two monks who lived down the road. She often brought them peaches from her trees in spring to thank them for their hard work.

“My sensei told me we could train more under these people. We have Tsu-Chan and Hicchan now too, so they can come with us if they want.” 

He shifted on his bare feet, hair sleep mussed from midday nap and falling in lackadaisical curls to his shoulders. He had dirt and paint smeared across his left cheek, over his freckles, and a lock of hair had pasted itself to it.

Beru grabbed a cloth and ran it under the tap, and gently grabbed his chin. She wiped off the mess, “What kind of training, tadpole?” 

He struck a pose, hands flying and nearly knocking her cloth out of her grasp.

“Hero training!” He proclaimed, grin stretching across his face. 

“Ah, Tsu has always loved heroes, I’m sure she’ll want to join you.” She gave up on cleaning his hair with the cloth, “Can you get this out yourself?”

He rolled the lock between his thumb and forefinger, and nodded. There was a ‘poof’ and she easily caught the crystal in her hand. Some dry paint and mud, still in the shape of the hair, fell to the ground.

She threw the crystal into the air lightly, ready to catch it if he didn’t reform, but telltale light spread from the gem, and Izuku was there again.

“Oooh, there was a lot.” He said, bending down to pick up the mess. 

“Alright, can you put that in the- trash? Izuku!” 

Izuku whipped his face towards her, not a trace of guilt on his face as he chewed. Paint flecked his lips.

He grinned at her, and she sighed, not yet used to Izuku’s strange desire to taste  _ everything.  _ She gave him back his note,

“These people are monks, they live in the Buddhist temple right down the street.” She led him to the door and slid it open, leaning her torso outside and pointing to the roof, visible slightly from their house.

The rest of the children were outside already, swimming in the pond. 

Izuku didn’t like swimming much, he couldn’t stay on the surface. His light body didn’t work well in water, and he just sunk, walking along the bottom. 

Which was nice, but not fun if he wanted to be on top with his siblings and friend.

Samidare, little as he was, was without any kind of inflatable to help him swim, diving in and out with his sister easily.

Inko had nearly had a panic attack on site, but Beru had just waved. “All children are born instinctively knowing how to swim. By the time they’re three months old they forget, though.”

“And your children?”

“We have frog quirks. Even if they had never touched a bath or pool until adulthood, they’d still know how to swim.”

….

Later on, Izuku took the paper, gathered the other children, and left out the door to the temple.

Tsu, for some reason, had declared Izuku a girl for the rest of the day.

“So I’m not the only one there,” She signed. Izuku made a noise of understanding, and linked their hands. Not-quite-skin pressed to the long clammy fingers of the other greenette.

Izuku spotted the temple and waved her free hand excitedly, “There it is! I see it!” Her hand brushed a low-hanging branch on a pine tree, sticky with sap. 

She rubbed it off on her jeans, hardly even noticing.

There were a few monks at the gate, working on the gardens. Izuku showed them the note, “Can you help us find these people please?”

One smiled, his mouth the only thing visible under his hat, as he had his head tilted. “I can. Follow me, children. Make sure to take your shoes off.”

Izuku’s shoes disappeared instead as they stepped inside, leaving freckled bare feet.

They walked in comfortable silence, looking around and peeking through cracks in the doors. The monk leading them didn’t reprimand them, so they took it as permission.

The monk opened a door, leading to a dojo that was empty except for two figures on the adjoining balcony.

“These children have a note of recommendation from old friends of yours.” The monk, they should really learn his name, said.

The other monks Tsuyu and Izuku could clearly see. When you’re short, hats don’t help conceal your identity much. Especially when one has long horns and the other didn’t have joints, their appendages were just floating in their normal appendage spots.

Izuku was handed back the note, and the door was closed behind them. She Looked at the two, suddenly nervous, the feeling coiling around in her stomach.

Katsuki took one look at her face and scoffed, snatching the note.

He walked right up to them, “Sensei said you could help us become heroes. Can you?” He stuck the note up into the air.

The one with floaty-limbs snorted, and their hand drifted away from their body, grabbing the note.

“Ah, it’s Kensuke,” They said, sounding pleasantly surprised, “Haven’t heard from him in a while.”

The other monk huffed, “Figures he’d only contact us when he needs something.” 

“Now don’t be like that,” The first one said, looking back to the kids. “Sit down children, come on now!” They beckoned the kids over to some mats on the floor.

Izuku grabbed Tsuyu’s hand, deciding that she would stick with the other greenette for the time being. 

Katsuki went up to Hitoshi and pulled him along to the mats, as Hitoshi tried to hide behind the blonde. It didn’t work very well, considering how tall Hitoshi was.

“I am Hado Sukeru.” The gruff man said.

“And I, Kumo Ukabu.” Said the nicer one (in the kids opinion, anyways.). “Our friend said he had been training you?”

Izuku’s free hand clutched at the knees of his jeans, “Uh-huh! We’d really appreciate it if you helped us with he ro training, too!”

“Our parents can pay if you want money or something,” Katsuki added with a sharp dip of his chin, staring into their eyes.

Kumo clapped his hands, which looked pretty strange as the rest of his body didn’t move. “We don’t need money, but what you could do is help with farming and taking care of the temple.”

The children agreed, and after a short discussion on what they’d learned, started.

Hado took Izuku and Katsuki, to spar. Meanwhile, Tsuyu and Hitoshi were working on basics with Kumo, who assured them they’d catch up in no time.

:.:.:.:.

“Katsuki, you have to watch my  _ hands. _ ” Hado said, helping the child back up.

Katsuki growled, on the verge of a tantrum, and furiously pushed his sweat-slick bangs out of his eyes. They didn’t stay, falling back into his eyes.

“I can’t fucking  _ see!”  _ Came the hissed response. Tsuyu looked up quizzically from her hand-stand, peering up at Katsuki’s face. 

Carefully, she walked on her hands over to him, being mindful of her own hair, which was in a ponytail and dragging on the floor.

She bounced back onto her feet, unzipping a pocket in her capris and pulling out some Bobby pins. 

She beckoned Katsuki to her spot, and grabbed his hair. It was wet, but she liked wet things, even sweaty hair, so she didn’t mind. Her long fingers separated the strands, and fishtail braided them back, securing them with the pins.

Katsuki paused in his angry muttering, feeling the braids tentatively. Most of his hair was still fairly short, but the bangs that were in his eyes were long enough that they braided back easily and away from his face.

They were pretty nice, actually, and his face didn’t feel as sticky and distracting.

“Thanks!” He grinned at her, and she cartwheeled away.

Hado furrowed his brow, “She picked up on gymnastics pretty fast.”

Tsuyu and Izuku were the best at stretching and gymnastics. Tsuyu was just crazy flexible, and had a really good sense of balance.

Izuku was better at stretching than Tsuyu, considering he didn’t have actual bones. As long as he saw a video of someone doing something flexible, then he could do it. As long as he believed it was possible, Izuku could do any stretch. His mind was the only thing telling him he couldn’t.

His Papa called it ‘The Matrix’, whatever that meant. 

On the other hand, Izuku struggled with balance. 

A lot.

Especially during windy days. His light body was constantly tipping and almost flying away.

A crash came from outside, and they glanced out the window to see Izuku in a cart of peaches.

Kumo was lightly lecturing him, obviously trying not to laugh. Hitoshi, off to the side, had no issue laughing at his sibling.

He definitely needed to work on his balance more.

:.:.:.:.:.

Mitsuki made an interested noise as she thumbed through the mail, pulling out two deep red envelopes.

“What is it?” Beru asked, poking her head into the hallway.

“The Yaoyorozu’s have invited us to their Summer Gala. The envelope came in red, too. I would’ve gone with a yellow, myself.”

“Maybe they wanted to avoid insulting anyone from the Western area of Japan?”

Izuku was standing in the hall, obviously the first back from training. Sweat beaded at his neck and chin, occasionally dropping from his clammy skin and dispersing into sparkles.

“I read that Yellow can be seen as a treacherous color in the west because of criminal activity.”

Mitsuki paused, and hummed, “Now that I think of it, you’re right. Good thinking.”

Izuku beamed, and as the sound of Katsuki and the other children crept closer, he ran up the stairs, two at a time. Mitsuki knew he was headed for a linen cupboard to grab towels.

She leaned out the open door, eyes falling on the tired group. 

“Izuku’s getting the towels, go head to the bathhouse, you stink.”

Protests instantly arose.

“I smell like caramel and you know it!” Katsuki snarled, But with only half of his usual passion.

Tsu grabbed his arm, took a long sniff, and nodded, completely serious.

“Not our fault the Sensei’s work us so hard,” Hitoshi muttered, “My legs feel like jelly.”

Beru gestured to the bathhouse, “Well, take yourselves and your jelly legs into the bath. Go on.”

They left in a cloud of kicked up dust and dragging feet. Izuku bounded down the steps, panting.

“Aren’t you tired?” Mitsuki asked him. 

He couldn’t see her well over the precarious tower of towels, but he managed to peek over so his eyes were visible.

“Kumo-Sensei says if i keep up a rhythm then I can stop myself from getting too tired!” 

His tank top burst into sparkles as he left the house, leaving freckled caramel skin as he ran across the lawn, slamming the bathhouse door open. 

Mitsuki and Beru heard a splash, and screams. Beru leaned outside, 

“MAKE SURE YOU WASH OFF BEFORE GETTING IN THE BATH.”

“We are!”

She nodded and turned back to Mitsuki, who smiled at her amusedly.

“What were we saying?”

Beru stopped, closing the door. The splash of red among the plain white mail on the counter drew her eyes, “The Invitation.”

“Ah! Right. Well, Hisashi got one as well. The Yaoyorozu’s always invite a variety of people from the Upper Circles. They help produce metals and alloys for support gear, so both inventors and several hero families are invited. I was invited because I have ties in their production of cloth and material. Hisashi is invited because of his status as one of the best scientists in the world. The Yaoyorozu’s value knowledge above all things, so-“ 

Mitsuki gave her friend a crooked grin, “Sorry, I’m rambling a bit.”

“Oh I don't mind a bit, you know that Mitsuki. Are you going?”

“I haven’t really been able to make it since the kids were toddlers. I believe they have a daughter their age though, a Yaoyorozu Momo.”

She laughed, “I’m not sure what she looks like, I only saw her as a baby-“

“Oh, she’s adorable!”

Mitsuki’s head whipped around, her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, “How…?”

Beru’s sweet smile had a hint of smugness, holding up her smartphone, which was open to an Instagram page for Yaoyorozu Mimi. It showed a post, featuring what must have been her daughter, proudly holding up a small mechanical car. The caption read,  _ ‘She’s getting so good with her quirk now! Definitely her father's daughter.’  _

“...ah.” Mitsuki coughed into her fist, cheeks tinted red, “I probably should’ve thought of that.”

_ Beru giggled. _

…

Later on, at the shared dinner, Mitsuki brought up the letters.

“I wanna go, it sounds fun!” Izuku said, smiling. 

“I’ve always had to decline, since I was out of the country. I’m sure I can go now, there’s no harm, and it’d be rude to decline,” Hisashi said, shoving asparagus into his mouth.

Masaru was more polite, signing a one handed word of agreement, as his mouth was full.

“Are you taking the children?” Inko asked. She didn’t look worried, as she had no reason to be. She trusted Mitsuki’s judgement when it came to these things.

The children were silent, all eyes on Mitsuki. The Asui’s were quiet as well, except Genma, who didn’t care for tense moments and studiously ate through it all.

Mitsuki idly spun a finger on the table, “I think I will. I’ve kept them away from the limelight for a long time, but there’s no avoiding it now.”

Izuku cheered, and Katsuki was close to imitating him. Hitoshi was more reserved,

“Um, I don’t mind going as long as Katsuki stays close to me.”

“Do you need me to hold your hand?” Katsuki asked, in a way that  _ could  _ be taken as mocking, but Hitoshi knew it wasn’t. He nodded, smiling a bit at Katsuki.

Mitsuki thought the matter was over and prepared to go back to her food, until she noticed Tsuyu very obviously pouting at the table.

“Tsuyu?” She asked, gently.

Beru and Genma instantly took notice.

“What’s upsetting you, Tsu?” Beru looked a bit worried.

“I...I want to go too.” It was a bit quiet, but clear nonetheless.

Genma frowned, “Tsuyu, you weren’t invited. It’s a very private party.”

That only made the girl shove her fingers in her mouth angrily, she stared at her plate even as tears gathered in her eyes.

The Asui’s were alarmed, and weren’t really sure what to do. They hadn’t realized Tsu would react like this, but then again, who can predict the emotions of a seven year old?

“Tsu sad!” Samidare said, pointing. No one answered him right away, so he huffed, lightly smacking Hisashi from his high-chair.

“Tsu sad?” He asked, just to confirm that he was right. 

Hisashi nodded, “She is a little sad right now, buddy.”

Mitsuki looked conflicted, “I wanted to ask you in private, but we can bring someone who isn’t family. It’s ‘family plus a friend,’ although the ‘friend’ is optional. We could bring her.”

Tsu’s head popped up, wide eyes even wider than usual.

“But, she would be in the limelight and stuck there. There’s a lot of reporters and I’ll have interviews after about who I brought. Especially since I’m stepping back into my fashion career more actively starting this year. The party will be considered my ‘Debut’ after my hiatus of so long.”

“Tsu, are you sure tadpole?” Beru‘s eyes were locked onto her eldest, looking for any sign of hesitation.

Tsuyu nodded furiously, “I really want to!” She said, surprising everyone with a verbal answer. She’d spoken verbally more tonight than she usually said in a day.

“Then I’m fine with it. Genma?” Beru turned to her husband. 

Genma waved a kebab through the air, “I don’t mind, it’s her own life, no matter how young she is.”

They wrote an RSVP that night, and sent it in the morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fun fact! that whole 'babies can swim from birth' thing is kinda a myth. they have reflexes that make it look like it. they have a reflex called the bradycardic response that makes them open their eyes and hold their breath, the same thing happens when you blow on their face. they lose that reflex at 6 months. They cannot swim bc their muscles aren't developed enough to keep their head out of water. there are classes for babies to teach them to turn on their backs if they fall in, though!
> 
> Oh! And I was actually going to have the kids go to a dojo for training, until I looked around where I set their address via google earth street view, and saw this temple/monastery Like three Houses down from them. So. Shinto Monks.   
> ALSO MOMO NEXT WEEK ASFNDAKJFABAEF


	9. Marble: Clarity

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> MOMO MOMO MOMO MOMO MOMO

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> me, walking in witha new chapter after a whole ass month: https://youtu.be/B3vNS3qMibU
> 
> i have. no excuse. i am sorrrrrryyyyy.
> 
> BUT!! I BRING MOMO. also here's two chapters bc im sorry.

  
  


The night of the Gala was chaos. Clothes were being put on, hair styled immaculately, and makeup applied.

Mitsuki needed their outfits to match each other, they  _ needed  _ to coordinate. 

Why? Simple power move. Coordinating their outfits, on top of arriving together, will cement that the Midoriya’s and Bakugou’s are a set. An Alliance of two families.

Dressing Tsu to more closely match the Midoriya’s in particular will result in most of the nosy people and tabloids assuming she was Izuku’s sister, and not leading to a hunt for her identity.

  
  


“Izuku, you need to make up your mind, alright?” Masaru held up two separate pictures from a catalog.

  
  


One featured a long green dress, with plenty of tulle. The other, black dress pants with a green shirt.

Izuku whined, huffing under his breath. 

“I can’t wear my shoes with either?” He asked, for what must have been the third or fourth time. The brightly colored, light up All Might sneakers were snug on his feet.

Masaru was nothing but patient, though.

“No, you can wear sandals or dress shoes. It’s formal wear.”

Izuku rubbed an eye sleepily, since all the kids had a nap before they left. No doubt the event would last far into the night, and they didn’t want grumpy tired children.

Eventually Izuku pointed to the dress, which was somewhat predictable because Izuku loved wearing breathable outfits when he was dancing.

A soft glow painted the room, and then Izuku was standing in the dress. His knees were more bent than what was natural, enabling the dress to trail over his toes and spill onto the floor. 

He took a step, and All Might colored lights were visible from under the dress.

Masaru clicked his tongue, “I do hope you’re not wearing those shoes.”

Izuku didn’t say anything, but a small flash of light went off under the hem as the shoes likely disappeared, and Masaru resisted the urge to laugh.

“Am I done now?”

...

Meanwhile, Katsuki and Hitoshi were wearing matching grey semi-formal suits.

Hitoshi was asked if he wanted to wear a dress (so as to avoid the outfit if it was too tight) but he said the suit was fine since nothing pulled. He still wasn’t completely adjusted to the fluidity of clothing in the house. All of the children were given clothing options not limited to Boy or Girl.

He was slowly easing into the idea, especially after seeing Katsuki wearing a shirt with sequins.

Tsuyu has her hair up in a bun, which she kept messing with, tilting her head left and right to feel the shift of weight.

So of course, Mitsuki kept having to fix the bun.

Somehow on schedule, they piled into the car. The Yaoyorozu residence was around 40 minutes away, closer to Tokyo.

“Alright, so!” Mitsuki smiled from the passenger's seat, “Buddy System sounds good? Izuku and Tsuyu, and Katsuki and Hitoshi. If anyone says anything strange to you, just tell them that I’m looking for you and head back.”

Inko nodded, “Oh and check back with us every thirty minutes, alright? You have watches, so try to look at them every so often. There aren’t that many children there, so be nice to them!”

They didn’t mention the paparazzi. They didn’t need to. All the kids knew what to do at this point since they’d been nailing it into their heads.

They’d stop for one or two short interviews, and the children would only answer if talked to. They didn’t even have to answer, and signing was fine.

The thicker the traffic grew, the closer they got. Eventually they flashed the invite at the neighborhood guard, and drove inside.

The Yaoyorozu’s managed their paparazzi fairly easily, since there were only a dozen or so. Mitsuki didn’t doubt that any other party and there’d be at least thirty.

They parked, and began the process of getting each child out of the car. A man and a woman in black got out of the car in front of them and watched the small crowd. Mitsuki had guards for when she went out as a celebrity, and she didn’t doubt they’d be a help. 

Plus, the kids had already befriended them yesterday, and knew they were ‘safe’ if they felt nervous or scared.

As they walked up to the house, a reporter made it to them, camera-woman trailing close behind. He beamed, likely excited he was the first to reach them.

“Could I have a minute of your time, Bakugou-San and Midoriya-San?” He asked, addressing Mitsuki, Masaru, and Hisashi. They nodded.

He stood next to them, “Did you bring your children this time? How’s stepping back into the public after four years of a publicity break?”

He was looking at Mitsuki and Masaru, so she answered. “These are my kids, yeah. The Midoroya’s have lived with us for a long time, and we’ve co-parented all of our kids.” She laughed, “This is their first time with paparazzi, so I’m happy we got you.”

He laughed, and they exchanged quick compliments.

“Can I ask them anything?”

Masaru made an approving gesture and stepped aside a little bit. “Just to establish something, Tsuyu has selective mutism and Hitoshi has long nonverbal periods, so they may not verbally answer you.”

“That’s totally fine!” The reporter said, and then he got down lower for the kids, “How’s it feeling going to a big party like this? Are you nervous? Oh, and can I get your names?”

Katsuki, confident as always, answered first.

“I’m Katsuki. And I’m not nervous because it’s just a room full of people in stuffy outfits like us.” 

He tugged at his cuff, “Probably when it gets later on everyone will just wanna go home like us too.”

Izuku leaned forward to the microphone, “Um, I’m a little- a little nervous. It’s a lot of people. I’m Izuku by the way.”

Tsu nodded, gripping onto the side of Izuku’s dress, and Hitoshi simply muttered his name and nothing more.

There were a few more questions from him, and then another reporter came up, a YouChube reporter. His interview was more of a game for the kids (likely to introduce them to the public eye).

“Okay, I have some boards. I’ll ask a question, and you guys write the name of who fits the answer, okay?”

Affirmatives rang from the kids.

“Who gets in the most trouble?”

Every one of their boards read ‘Katsuki.’

“Kacchan gets angry a lot and has to have a lot of Things to calm down.” Izuku said, “Mama says we’re all good kids, though.”

“Who has the weirdest quirk?”

This one had a bit of hesitation.

“Like, not common? Or the most physically weird?” Hitoshi asked.

The reporter hummed, “We’ll do physically now, and then next we’ll do not common.”

All four boards read ‘Tsuyu.’

Quietly, she said, “I’m a frog, kero.”

(She didn’t know that those words, that line, would be made into a meme and become internet famous.)

“Alright, and not common?”

Three boards read ‘Izuku’, while one (from Izuku) read ‘Katsuki’.

“Kacchan has explosive sweat and that’s not common,” Izuku protested, but Hitoshi shut him down.

“Yeah, but explosion related quirks are common.”

Izuku looked at Katsuki for aid, but Katsuki just nodded.

The reporter laughed, and said, “Alright, why Izuku then?”

“Izuku’s quirk is really versatile, that’s what our sensei’s told us, even though it can come with a lot of drawbacks. He can fuse with people because he’s made of light.”

The reporter looked impressed, “Oh wow, can we see an example?”

“What about quirk laws?” Izuku asked, brow furrowed.

The reporter smiled easily, “This is private property and the Yaoyorozu’s have licenses for quirk usage on their properties.”

“Oh? We have that too,” Katsuki said, “So I guess it’s ok then. Izuku do ya wanna?”

Izuku pursed his lips, before a small smile graced his features, “I like fusing, so okay.”

Hitoshi pushed the reporter away, “You have to back up.”

Izuku backed up, then ran at Katsuki, who threw the other into the air (a few parents close by gave shouts of alarm). As Izuku came down, he began to glow, turning into more noticeable light, and that light twisted around Katsuki like silly putty, molding into a new person.

Carnelian opened their eyes, analyzed the situation, and relaxed a bit. 

“How's it hanging small siblings, and man I don’t know?”

The man, to his credit, composed himself very quickly. 

“Hello, what’s your name?”

“I’m Carnelian, and I’m being used as a demonstration apparently. Honestly I could be doing better things, but it is what it is. Well, demonstration over then.”

The light appeared again, and Katsuki and Izuku were separated.

“Well! That definitely wasn’t common at all!”

The interview game continued on a similar note until their parents pulled them away.

A man in a suit checked them off a list when they walked in, and they entered the home.

Izuku looked the walls and interior up and down, then tugged on Mitsuki’s hand. 

He gestured around himself, at the tall wooden pillars and big windows.

“It reminds me of our house, Mom!” 

She grinned at him, “Hell yeah it does, your Dad was one of the lead designers for this place. He carried the whole project.”

Masaru blushed, “I didn’t ‘carry’ it Mitsuki, I had plenty of help, and you know I specialize in interiors anyways.”

They were led by Mitsuki, who was looking around with a sharp eye, through the crowd. Finally she spotted what she was searching for.

“Mimi!” She called.

A tall, slender woman turned towards the voice, and smiled when she saw who it was. 

They made it over to the woman.

“Mimi, it’s so good to see you! Thank you for the invitation, really. I need to get out more.” Mitsuki said.

Mimi noticed the kids, and bent down a bit,

“You look so adorable! My daughter Momo is around your age, and I can tell you where she is if you want. She’s pretty lonely, most people except for the Iida’s don’t bring children, and they couldn’t make it.”

The second the word ‘lonely’ left Mimi’s mouth, Izuku’s eyes grew steely.

“Oh can we please know?” He asked.

She told them the directions (two lefts down the hall, a right, and it’s a purple door.) and off they went, leaving the adults to talk.

The hallway was longer than they thought, but looking out the windows they deduced that the hallway was actually connecting a smaller building than the main one.

They found the purple door, but when Izuku went to knock, he hesitated. 

His eyes met Katsuki’s pleadingly, but Katsuki just smirked, because he knew he was the bravest of the group. He used the hand that wasn’t holding Hitoshi’s to knock.

There was a surprised squeak inside, then,

“Um, come in!”

They opened the door to find a large bedroom, filled with shelves and books, with a large bed. There was a fluffy rug that had beanbags, and seated in a blue one was a girl around their age.

She had narrow coal colored eyes, and long tresses of dark hair, which she was trying desperately to fix.

It was in a now-messy ponytail, and the bottom of the ponytail was completely stuck together, no matter how many times she tried to brush through it.

“Asuna-San, can you please give me some hot water, or something to get this marmalade out?” 

She looked up, and her hands froze in their movements.

“Your mother told us we could come hang out with you,” Katsuki said.

The girl was panicking now, “Oh please don’t tell my mother! I need to get this out somehow but I’ve tried almost everything-“ 

She gestured around herself, and the kids now noticed the array of hair products around the beanbag.

“-but some of them just made the mess stronger, and I’m not sure what to do.”

Hitoshi looked at her hair, let go of Katsuki’s hand, and walked over, “Can’t you cut it or something?”

The girl flailed her arms in the air at the mere mention of cutting it, “I can’t cut it, my parents love my hair!”

Izuku took Tsu’s hand and sat on the carpet in front of her, joined by Katsuki.

“Do you love your hair, though?” He asked, twirling a finger through some of the loose curls framing his face.

He really liked his hair, personally. He liked it when people brushed it and put it up or braided it, and he liked the way it bounced when he ran. So he kept it around mid-shoulder length.

The girl paused, “Oh well, I’ve never actually thought about it. But I don’t think I really do. My parents love it long, and I love my parents, so I’ve kept it long.”

Katsuki scoffed, and Tsu signed something.

He nodded at her in agreement, “Your parents love you, right?”

She nodded instantly, “Oh course they do. They may not always have time but they try their best.”

“Then they love you more than your hair, and they aren’t going to make a big fuss if you cut it,” Katsuki said, looking around.

The girl blinked, and her eyes widened, “You really think they won’t care?”

Izuku said, “I change my hair all the time, and our parents don’t care at all!”

The girl smiled brightly, renewed. Relief was flooding through her system, obviously.

She suddenly stood up, “I’m going to cut my hair, and they won’t care!”

Hitoshi asked, “Right now?”

It was a bit of a sudden decision.

“Oooh let Katsuki do it, he’s really good with hair stuff!”

The girl ran and grabbed a book off a shelf with a large hiragana for ‘Ha’ on the spine.

She flipped through a few pages, “Aha! Hasami!”

“Scissors? Why do you need a book?”

She read the page quickly, then took a deep breath, lifting up her dress to reveal her stomach, and an object started to come out of her skin.

She held up the result proudly, dropping her dress, “Scissors!” 

Izuku’s eyes could be compared to saucers, what with how wide they were.

“Is that your quirk?!” He hopped over to her and bent down to look at the scissors.

“They’re really well done!”

She beamed, “I can make anything from my body fat as long as I know the chemical makeup!”

The children all gathered around and praised her. She blushed, suddenly self-conscious, “It isn’t that cool...but if you want, you can cut my hair with these!” She handed them to Katsuki.

He hummed, turning the smooth metal over in his hands.

“How short?”

She thought for a minute, and then pointed to Hitoshi, “A bit longer than theirs.”

Katsuki nodded, “I can do that, and we’ll need to get it wet to do it like the videos on YouChube do, but we can cut the sticky part off right now.”

She turned around, and under the watchful eyes of the others, he snipped the matted mess out of her ponytail.

She looked at the end, which was choppy, but clean.

“It won’t look like this, right?”

Izuku shook his head, “Of course not, Kacchan is gonna wet it, and then cut it in a line. It won’t look messy. Do you have a bathroom?”

The girl walked over to a door, pulling the elastic out of her hair as she did, and opened it.

There was a large bathroom inside, with a walk in closet connecting to it.

Izuku took a look inside the closet and lit up, 

“Can we dress up in your clothes after? You have so many!”

Izuku normally didn’t like to wear normal clothes, but he’d make an exception for dress up. Other people’s clothes always smelled nice too.

She smiled at him, nodding easily, “Sure. The adults aren’t really expecting us to be out there. I can ask a maid to bring us some food and drinks.”

Tsu tapped Hitoshi, and signed, “What about checking in?”

He blinked, realizing the problem, “Uh can your maid also let our parents know we’re okay? We’re supposed to check in every thirty minutes.”

She told them that they definitely could, and pressed a button on a pad, which was on the wall.

They quickly recognized it as an intercom system, as they had one in their own house.

“Asuna-san? Can you bring some snacks to my room and tell the, uh-“

She looked at them, realizing suddenly that she didn’t know their parents.

“Midoriya’s and Bakugo’s,” Katsuki provided.

“Midoriya’s and Bakugo’s that their kids want to check in to let them know they’re fine?”

A voice came out of the intercom, “Of course, Miss Momo.”

She looked at them, “Oh my gosh! I’m Yaoyorozu Momo, I can’t believe I forgot to ask for your names.”

“I’m Midoriya Izuku, that’s Bakugo Katsuki, Tsu, and Hitoshi. You can call us by our first names if you want.”

“Call me Momo then!”

They went further into the bathroom, and washed Momo’s hair in a sink. Katsuki combed it all out, and started cutting it.

He knew he couldn’t do anything difficult, but a short even cut seemed pretty easy.

Afterwards, he blow dried it. 

“It looks okay, right?” She asked.

Tsu gave her a thumbs up, and Katsuki scoffed, “Of course it’s okay. I’m the best at everything I do.”

It was very short, the length being a bit above her chin.

She looked at herself in the mirror, shaking her newly short hair. 

“It’s amazing!”

Izuku grabbed her hand, “Can we go into your closet now?”

Momo agreed, and led them inside.

“Oh! You have a lot of stuff in here!” Izuku said, grabbing a dress.

Hitoshi went looking at t-shirts.

They went through a lot of outfits, taking pictures with their tablets and listening to music.

Eventually they reached the pajamas, put those on, and went to watch a movie on the bed. Asuna had just left the snacks on trays for them, so they helped themselves.

Momo grabbed the remote, “What do you want to watch? I have every Disney movie ever.”

“We were going to watch Finding Nemo tomorrow, but we can watch it today, if you guys want,” Hitoshi suggested. Everyone agreed, surprisingly.

Normally it would take them 20 minutes to pick a movie.

Around halfway into the movie, Asuna was sent to check on them.

“Miss Momo-“

She stood in the doorway, staring at Momo, who hadn’t noticed her yet. 

She silently closed the door, and hurried off to find Momo’s parents.

In the main building, most of the guests except the Midoriya’s and Bakugo’s had left. Asuna dashed into the sitting room.

“Ma’am! Oh my goodness ma’am.”

Mimi glanced up from her wine, “Is something wrong Asuna?”

Inko stood up, “Are the kids alright?”

Asuna looked pale, “Miss Momo’s hair, it’s all been cut short!”

Mimi and her husband, Yato, jumped to their feet. They hurried down the hall, with their guests at their heels.

Tsuyu stopped moving with a piece of seaweed halfway to her mouth, tilting her head.

“I hear people coming,” she signed, after waving a hand to gain her friends’ attention.

They all looked towards the door, just as it burst open.

Momo frowned a bit at her parents, “I thought we were always supposed to knock.”

Mimi ignored the comment. She sucked in a tight breath, dashing up to her daughter and kneeling down to see her hair.

“Momo what did you do to your  _ hair _ , honey?!”

Momo took a deep breath, “Well, I got marmalade in it, so I tried all the products to get it out, but some of them made it worse and it got really hard and sticky. Then they-“

She pointed at the other children,

“-came in, and Katsuki told me he could cut it.”

Yato, from the doorway, wiped a hand over his face, “And you let him? Why? You love your hair, Momo.”

Mitsuki turned sharply, “Oh my God, I am so sorry Mimi. Katsuki you can’t just - just - just cut people’s hair!”

Katsuki wrinkled his nose, “Why not?”

Mitsuki was breathing deeply, trying to stay calm. Inko patted her shoulder, in a small attempt to console her.

“You’re not a hairstylist, Katsuki, you have to go to school for that,” Hisashi said. 

“I’m in school.”

Hisashi sighed, “Now is not the time for comebacks, Katsuki.”

“But I didn’t even like my long hair!”

All eyes went to Momo, who was nervously shuffling a foot on the floor, her sock dragging across the carpet.

“You and Mother really liked my long hair, so I never asked for a haircut,” She mumbled.

Yato and Mimi exchanged a look.

“Did you really not like your hair, honey?”

Momo shook her head, “I really didn’t like it. Katsuki shouldn’t be in trouble.”

Mimi stood up from her crouched position, eyeing the haircut, “I’ll take you to my stylist tomorrow, though it won’t need much,” She gave kids a smile, 

“Katsuki did a pretty good job, but I wouldn’t cut anyone else’s hair, alright?”

Katsuki gave a smug grin to his parents, “Only because the world isn’t ready for what I have, but okay.”

The parents now seemed to register the scene of the bedroom, with their children all dressed in Momo’s pajamas (she was the tallest there, so the sleeves had to be rolled up on Izuku and Tsu) watching a movie.

Masaru laughed quietly, “Well good thing you’re all dressed.”

Izuku stood up, “What do you mean, Dad?”

“Who wants to stay here for a sleepover?” Inko asked, “Tsu, I already asked your parents, and they said it’s fine.”

Tsu nodded. “ _ I want to stay and sleep here _ ,” she signed. 

Izuku cheered, “Me too please! I want to stay the night!”

Katsuki also expressed his desire to stay, “Our house is getting boring, so this will be better.” He said.

Masaru laughed, “Is that a challenge? You have an indoor jungle gym already.”

Katsuki smirked, “Well if you think you can’t-“

“I don’t want to stay, if that’s okay,” Hitoshi said quietly, walking over to Inko. She signed something to him, and he nodded, so she picked him up. His long, lanky legs hugged her midsection loosely.

“I want to stay at our house, but maybe on a different day I can sleepover?” He asked her.

She smiled at him, “Sure thing honey, maybe another time.”

She waved at the others, “Well, Masaru and I are going to leave now, so do we get any hugs goodbye?”

After goodbyes and hugs were exchanged, Inko and Masaru left with Hitoshi.

Hisashi and Mitsuki were staying to work on plans and materials with the Yaoyorozu’s, and we’re going to stay overnight in a guest room.

The kids slept in Momo’s big bed, and stayed up until around midnight before dropping off to sleep one by one.

After that, sleepovers at the Yaoyorozu’s and vice versa became more commonplace.

When Momo was done with her studies for the day, she could have her driver take her to the Bakudoriya household, and play in the woods with their kids.

Momo just became a more common face for the kids, and definitely a welcome one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my parents, to my brothers: "you all stay up all night, sleep all day, and chores never get done. NO MORE. ENFORCED BEDTIME, WIFI IS OFF AT MIDNIGHT, I'LL BE TAKING YOUR PHONES, AND EVERYONE HAS TO BE AWAKE AND SHOWERED BEFORE NINE."
> 
> me: *nodding*
> 
> mom: "you too, Valor."
> 
> me, 18, who wasnt slept in past nine for four years, who wakes up at 6AM everyday, and rarely stays awake past 2AM unless there's extra homework: "i- what????????"
> 
> brothers still sleep till noon and stay up late bbc they just download everything fml im the only one who listens and im an adult wiTH A FULL TIME JOB NOW I GOTTA FREAKING STUDY BHSJKFBJKF AND SCHOOL IS STARTING SOON AGAIN EFAJKKKKKKKKKKK.


	10. Pink Kunzite: Protection and Love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the kids get ready and finally go to school, but everything isn't going as well as they well as they had hoped...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya, this is me dropping in to say that this chapter, starting about halfway, features bullying of a neurodivergent child, one who could be considered as having special needs. the bullying isn't serious yet (they're eight) but it is explicitly there with no intentions of hiding it. I researched bullying in japan extensively as i wrote this chapter, and i can safely and unfortunately say that i trust this type of bullying to be culturally accurate, as Japan is such a 'pack oriented' country. more at the end notes.

Right before school started, Izuku was due a checkup.

  
  


“We’re lucky Mabe-san got his practice moved here!” Inko said, glancing into the rear view mirror to smile at the kids for a second before going back to the road. 

They had to get a minivan. 

There weren’t many minivans in Japan, no one drove much. But it had been raining since yesterday afternoon and Hitoshi was adamant about staying dry. This made Tsuyu and Samidare upset because they wanted to play in the rain.

Fortunately Inko promised them jelly while they were at the appointment, which made them a bit happier.

They also brought the tablets, with headphones and the movie  _ Ponyo _ downloaded. 

Ganma, Beru’s husband, worked during the week, and Beru had a meeting with her Gynecologist. So, the Asui children were left with the Bakudoriya’s.

They unloaded from the car, running inside so they wouldn’t get wet. Izuku had to drag Tsuyu inside, who was signing that she could stay outside, no problem.

Children, honestly.

The new front office was all shades of creme and brown, obviously meant to be calming. 

It was a nice gesture, but did nothing, ultimately.

“Mabe-saaaan!” She called to the empty space. Instead of Mabe-San, however, a blue woman stuck her head through the side office doorway.

She had short hair, blue with darker shades transitioning into violet. Her bangs lay heavily across her brow, enhancing her bored look. One earphone dangled from her hand, the other resting in her ear.

“We’re closed,” she blatantly lied.

“You’re not Mabe-San.” Katsuki acknowledged bluntly, staring into the others eyes. 

Inko stepped back, confused. “I’m here for Mabe-san, do you know where he is? Do I have the wrong address?”

Before the woman opened her mouth again, Mabe-san dashed into the waiting room. 

“Reina-san! Please don’t chase away my favorite patients!”

The woman, Reina apparently, tsked and attempted to slink back into the room. Mabe-San, however, wasn’t having it, and pulled her into full view.

“Oh! You’re a nurse!”

Izuku ran up to her, “I’m Midoriya Izuku! I have a gem quirk! You look really young for a nurse, how old are you?”

Her eyes traced him up and down. “You’re the one I fix.” She said.

Mabe-san laughed nervously, putting a hand on her arm.

“Somehow, I found a person studying Medical Practice with a Gem Quirk! She can secrete a gel from her hands that mends minerals and crystals, so if you ever crack, we might be able to fix you Izuku-chan.”

“Oh. Kacchan told me you’d just use duct tape and I’d be stuck covered in tape until I died.” Izuku said, looking relieved. 

“He told you  _ what?”  _ Inko whirled on the blonde, “Katsuki! Don’t tell your sibling those kinds of things, you’ll scare him.”

“But he believes whatever I say. It’s  _ his  _ fault really, for being so gullible,” Katsuki pouted, and settled in a kids waiting chair (which were just big beanbags), motioning for Tsu to share her earphones with him. She did so happily, scrambling over from her seat into his lap so they could watch the movie together easier.

Samidare and Hitoshi occupied the other beanbag chair, eyes glued to the screen in their laps.

“Alright, Izuku-Chan! Do you want to come on back with me so we can take a look?” Mabe-san offered his hand, and Izuku wrapped his freckled fingers around it. His nails were messy and dark blue, courtesy of Mitsuki letting Hitoshi use her nail polish. Izuku had tried his best all day to not poof, so the polish wouldn’t fall off.

They walked down the hall into the office, Reina trailing behind them with her hands in her pockets.

Inko waved to get the kids’ attention, and signed, “ _ I’ll be back soon. Jelly is in the bag _ .” 

Katsuki fiddled with a braid in his hair, and nodded at her, before turning back to Ponyo.

She smiled and followed the doctors.

The trip ran on a bit long, since Mabe-San was double checking everything per Inko’s request. 

He turned to her at the end, “Inko, I’ve spread my specialty out more due to your family. I’m a General and Pediatric Doctor now. Reina is in training as a quirk specialist. There is already a Doctor in town here though, so I was hoping broadening myself would help.”

Inko stares at him, and sighed, pressing a palm into her eye.

“How long have you been with us, Mabe-San?”

He startled a bit, looking at Reina for a moment, but she was French braiding Izuku’s hair as he sat on the table. 

“Ah, well, since Izuku was born, really. I-,” he sighed, “I completely understand if you want to switch Doctors. There isn’t much more I can find out about Izuku’s quirk after all.”

“Mabe-San you are an absolute idiot sometimes.” 

“I- what?”

She flashed him her phone screen, which showed that she was talking to Mitsuki, judging by the contact name “Tsuki” with a long string of heart emojis. 

“I just asked Mitsuki. We’re hiring you. And Reina-Chan.”

He could only stare, mouth opening and closing uselessly, and Inko smiled kindly.

“Of course, you don’t have to accept, but we were going to ask anyway. You’re close to the family, and we need a Private doctor who can travel with us and knows the kid’s medical information in case something happens. We’ll pay you much more than you normally make, of course, and, Mabe-san are you alright?”

Izuku’s head turned sharply, almost forcing a protest from Reina, but she was distracted, staring as well.

“Mabe-Nii, you’re crying!”

Mabe-San had thick tears running down under his glasses, and he wiped at them with a pristine white sleeve.

“Mabe-San?” Inko looked concerned, reaching in her purse for a wipe.

“Kotsune, please.”

“Kotsune?”

He sniffed, “Call me Kotsune, then, please.”

She beamed, “I’d be happy to.”

* * *

“Do you guys wanna fuse with me?” 

It was a sunny day, shortly after the doctor's visit. 

The older kids were laying around the bedroom while Samidare napped in a hammock downstairs. 

Tsu rolled over, “We can?” She asked, it being a rare thing for her to verbalize. She must’ve been pretty interested.

Hitoshi smirked, “Did you think Izuku could only do it with Katsuki and Mama?”

She paused, then her cheeks turned pink, and shoved her face in a plush toy. She laughed though, so they laughed as well.

“I can fuse with you guys, but you have to be wearing a gem, somewhere, anywhere at all. The gems can move when we fuse. I have jewelry with practically every gem, including yours. So you guys can just pick some.”

Hitoshi frowned slightly, “But you never wear jewelry. You don’t like how it feels.”

“It’s for other people, Mom bought them for me. Besides, I’ll wear them if I need to. Kumo-Sensei said if I wear other gems when I poof, my gem would be scattered among them, and kinda hidden if you don’t know what to look for.”

“Oh, so that’s what he was telling you. I was wondering if you were falling behind, which would’ve meant I’m in the lead.” Katsuki jokes, grin stretching across his white teeth. Izuku shoved him, laughing.

His curls bounced as he jumped up, bare feet hardly making a sound on the floor, aside from a soft  _ thud _ .

“I’ll go get your crystals. You only get one type, so it can match you.”

He darted off, coming back slower, carefully carrying two small boxes, one larger than the other.

“Sorry Tsu-Chan, there isn’t a lot of Verdite jewelry around, we’re pretty lucky we got any. Hicchan’s got Amethyst, though. And amethyst is really really popular.”

She smiled and nodded, opening the box and digging around. Eventually she decided on a bracelet, tying it tight around her wrist, tongue wrapping around the cord to tug it secure.

Hitoshi in turn opened his box, and after a long while of trying things on and taking them off, his eyes fell on a pair of earrings.

“Do you think Mama will let me get my ears pierced?”

Izuku nodded, and Katsuki turned his head to show a little hole in his left ear, that Hitoshi had never noticed before.

“Definitely,” Katsuki smirked, grabbing a Jasper earring and putting it in easily.

It got a little bit more complicated when they realized there wasn’t a tattoo parlor nearby, a safer place to get a piercing. 

“I can do it.”

Everyone turned to Hisashi, and, as one, shook their heads.

The tall man sputtered, “I have  _ five  _ PhD’s and I’ve been using needles for nine years, you think I can’t pierce an ear?”

That... was a valid point. 

Hitoshi turned to look at Mitsuki, who shrugged and waved a hand, letting him decide himself.

He tossed the idea around in his head. It didn’t sound so bad, and he didn’t have to leave the house. 

_ He didn’t have to leave the house. _

“Pa- Hisashi-san, you can do it.”

Even the correction didn’t wipe the smile off of Hisashi’s face.

In twenty minutes, Hitoshi had two matching Amethyst studs in his ears.

* * *

The Asui and the Bakudoriya parents were bustling around the early morning, Ganma had left for work early in the morning, and Beru and the kids had slept over the previous night.

“Do you have everything Izuku?” Inko asked, fastening his cap. It fit perfectly of course, as did everything Izuku made of light.

“He’s got everything, you’ve already double checked,” Katsuki said, bent over Hitoshi’s shoes, tying the laces up loosely, because Hitoshi didn’t like tight things.

Hitoshi had his hands pressed to his red face, eyes screwed shut in mortification. 

No one had taught him how to properly tie shoes, normally he just made a knot and shoved his feet in.

Tsu tapped the tip of her own shoe to the floor to make it fit better, something she’d seen her mother doing.

Beru almost corrected her, almost told her that tapping shoes was for putting on sandals, but the sight alone was too adorable to stop.

The kids marched out the door, cutting through the forest to the town on the other side, where Tsu lived. She showed them the school, and they walked in together.

Tsu’s lips pressed into a thin line as they walked into the classroom, and she showed them their seats, sitting down with them. Izuku’s head was whipping to and fro, a rubber necklace secure in his mouth.

Hitoshi stuck closely to Katsuki’s side, head down. The teacher walked in, and smiled at them, faltering a bit at Tsuyu and the new kids, but waved at them.

“Ready? Rise!”

Everyone stood.

“Bow!”

They did.

“Good morning, Sensei!” The Class synced, with Hitoshi and Tsuyu staying silent, but that was pretty normal.

  
  


“Good morning, students! Alright, good job! Please sit down now.”

She wrote her name on the board, “My name is Okayama-Sensei, I’m excited to work with you kids. Let’s start by introducing ourselves.”

They went in order of desks, Tsuyu being one of the first, “Asui Tsuyu, kero.” She said, and sat back down.

The teacher’s smile strained for a second, the kids thought. Maybe she didn’t know Tsu didn’t like talking?

Katsuki stood up soon after, “Bakugou Katsuki, I’m going to be a pro-hero.”

Okayama-Sensei clapped, “That’s great Bakugou-kun! Do you have a strong quirk to help out?”

“My quirk is Explosion,” he said, grinning. The other kids made sounds of interest, murmuring among themselves.

“Let’s see it,” Okayama-Sensei said, clasping her hands together in front of her chest.

Katsuki’s hands stopped in an aborted motion to raise his palms. He frowned, pursing his lips.

“I’m not supposed ta’ show it in school.” He said, blinking as Izuku threw him an enthusiastic thumbs up. He scowled at his sibling, and Hitoshi snickered.

Okayama-Sensei looked surprised, “Oh, well that’s responsible of you, Bakugou-kun. Let’s move onto the next person, then.”

A few more kids went until it was Izuku’s turn.

He bounced to his feet, “I’m Midoriya Izuku, and I’m going to be a pro hero too, with Kacchan and Tsu and Hicchan!”

The teacher blinked, “Ara, that sounds great Midoriya-chan, but your parents should have got you the girls uniform, okay?”

He blinked, “You mean the skirt? I can put it on.”

She smiled, “Oh, you have it with you? That’s great, can you go put it on in the bathroom?”

“Oh, um, I don’t need to use it-“ He started, but she was already bustling him out the door.

Izuku looked at the closed classroom door, and then with a flash, switched his clothes, and came back in.

“Sensei, I finished,” he said, smiling. She looked taken aback, “But, how- you were only out there a second!”

“I don’t have a gender, Sensei, so call me whatever you wish, okay? I can wear either uniform, too. That’s what my Mom said.”

The teacher didn’t seem to understand, and just smiled at him.

“Just sit down, please, Midoriya-Chan.”

“Okay!” He skipped back to his seat.

Katsuki leaned over and whispered, “Do you just wanna use She today?”

Izuku smiled, “Sure, I don’t care about that stuff anyways,” She said, still not really understanding the fuss over her uniform.

Hitoshi stood up, taking a deep breath. He had wondered why he was the last of his siblings, but then came to the conclusion that the school system hadn’t updated his records. He was probably still listed as ‘Shinsou Hitoshi’. Which is why his desk was placed differently.

“I’m Shinsou Hitoshi. I don’t talk sometimes. I want to be a hero.”

There was that strained look again. Izuku wondered if she’d had something bad to eat. Kacchan was allergic to grapefruit, and when he ate one once, his stomach hurt for a long time. His face had kinda looked like that.

“Being a hero is a great job, Shinsou-kun, but let’s focus on using our words a bit more then, alright?”

Hitoshi looked uncomfortable at the mere thought. He sat back down and rolled his pencil between his fingers.

The morning went on in a similar fashion to Izuku and Kacchan’s old school, but when recess came (inside the building, because it was raining hard), things quickly started to go awry.

Almost immediately the four children had gathered together, but found themselves surrounded by the other kids as well. New students didn’t seem to be common, since it was a small town.

A group of girls approached Izuku, grabbing her hand.

“Do you want to play with us? We’re going to practice braids,” One girl said, her hair bright orange. Izuku noticed her skin was slightly fuzzy, like a peach.

Izuku beamed, “Sure!”

She paused, looking back at Tsu. Tsu tilted the side of her mouth in a half smile, but she honestly looked a bit...upset, maybe?

Izuku couldn’t put a pin on the feeling.

She knew that Tsu also loved to braid, though. She braided Izuku’s hair all the time, and Kacchan’s too!

“Tsu can come, right?” She asked, grinning.

The girls immediately leaned back, and peach girl shook her head. Her friend, who had arms that were all crinkled up, like a bendy straw, took a step forward.

“Asui isn’t any fun to play with, she just looks at people the whole time. It’s creepy,” she said, speaking quietly. Definitely not quiet enough for Tsuyu not to hear, because the green haired girl frowned.

Izuku wasn’t sure she liked the girls, now.

“Tsu isn’t creepy! She just doesn’t like to talk out loud. She can talk with her hands!” 

The girls didn’t agree with her, and the smile finally dropped from Izuku’s face. She took Tsu to a different corner of the room, where Kacchan and Hicchan were there waiting. They had ducked out of the crowd of kids as soon as they could, neither being a fan of big groups.

Izuku pulled her wooden stacking toys out of her bag, and plopped them on the ground. They focused on building the best tower until the free period was over. 

  
  


Kacchan has been watching the exchange, and as he placed a koala shaped block on top of a horse block, he huffed.

He tapped Tsu, “ _ Do they always say you’re creepy and stuff?”  _ He signed, his fingers stiff and angry.

Tsu patted his hands consolingly, and smiled, “ _ Don’t worry, it doesn’t bother me,” _ she signed back. 

“It’s not very nice, though,” Izuku said, Hitoshi nodding next to her, his face serious. 

Izuku thought for a moment, and then she got to her feet, biting her lip, 

“I’m going to go tell the teachers!” She said, honestly sounding like she was trying to convince herself to do it.

Katsuki looked at her, and her trembling fingers. He sighed loudly, grabbing Izuku’s hand, and pulling her into the tower of blocks.

“Hey!” Hitoshi said, speaking for the first time since his introduction. 

Izuku didn’t look upset, just surprised as she sat in a pile of blocks. 

“You’re such a klutz, Izu,” Katsuki said.

Izuku just looked more confused, and so did Tsu.

“Since you made the mess, you can sit here and build the tower again. I guess I’ll have to tell the teacher for you.”

Hitoshi looked less mad, but still annoyed, as he began gathering blocks. Tsu nodded, and helped Izuku onto the spot by her. Izuku met Katsuki’s eyes, and Katsuki could feel the massive amount of relief emanating from her. 

He smirked, and walked up to the teachers desk. 

Okayama-sensei looked up from her book, and smiled down at him. 

“Can I help you, Bakugou-kun? Do you need to use the restroom?”

Katsuki wrinkled his nose and shook his head, “It’s those girls,” he said, gesturing to the area they were in.

“They called Tsu creepy, and wouldn’t let her play,” he said, giving the girls a distasteful look.

His teacher smiled, in an annoying grown up kind of way. 

“Maybe if Asui-Chan made a bit more of an effort to get to know her classmates, they wouldn’t think bad things of her,” she said, hands folded in her lap and a sense of entitlement in the twinkle of her eye.

Katsuki couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t ever had an adult just disregard his words like that, and his cheeks heated up. He gave the woman a grimace that was all teeth.

“She doesn’t talk, so maybe they should try to get to know  _ her _ , since it’s harder for her to say hi,” he hissed, and stalked back to the blocks.

He stayed close to Tsu the rest of the day, who assured them that it was fine. He wanted to tell his mom, but he held off until he was sure that this wasn’t a one time thing.

The rain had stopped the next day, so recess was outside. It was muddy and wet, so Hitoshi stayed in the basketball court, reading a book. 

No one really bothered him, since he was so tall, and was still new. 

Izuku and Tsuyu were having the times of their lives, getting into the puddles around the schoolyard.

Katsuki chased after them with a stick, jumping over the puddles because he actually cared about his clothes. 

They stopped after a while, calming down and breathing deep. Izuku and Tsu were crouched over a puddle, dropping things in it to disrupt the reflection.

“It needs a boat,” Katsuki said, looking at the big puddle. 

“Go make one, Kacchan! Tsu and I can make an obstacle course for the boat. Like the sports festival at UA!”

Katsuki ran off, looking for the best boat materials. There were a bunch of buckets in the sandpit when he walked past the playground this morning, but a few were gone. He took one of the remaining buckets, and set about filling it with boat worthy material.

He made his way back to the puddle quickly, holding up the bucket, only to stop short, and then jog over to Izuku and Tsu.

Two boys were standing with the two missing buckets from the sandpit. 

“Hey Asui,” the first boy said, “Lunch is next, but I’m hungry now. Are you hungry, too?”

Tsu gave them a small smile, and nodded.

“That’s good, because we brought you lunch,” the other boy said.

Izuku opened his mouth, probably to tell them that they already had lunch packed, but at that

moment, the boys upending their buckets over Tsu’s head.

All matter of insects fell onto her hair, from crickets to cicadas to beetles. The most unwelcome, however, were the worms.

So, so many worms 

They tangled in her hair and landed on her face, slimy and squirming.

Tsuyu didn’t move, and tried in vain to simply let the insects fall off themselves.

The boys laughed, “Your favorite meal, all for free,” the first one joked. 

Katsuki made eye contact with them, and they booked it to the other side of the playground, 

“Do they do this kind of thing a lot?”

She nodded, toeing the scattering bugs with the tip of her shoe. Izuku was immediately all over her, panicking, but trying to keep the mood light.

“We, we can- we can give a home to the bugs,” he said, a smile stretched tight across his lips. Gingerly, he scooped the strays from her hair, putting them in a pile.

He gestured to the dirt nearby, “We can build a castle for them, and then they can swim in the lake whenever they want.”

They hadn’t noticed the glaze over Tsuyu’s eyes until it disappeared with a few blinks, her line of sight focusing on the puddle.

She nodded, a bit brighter than before.

Katsuki once again thanked whatever gods there were for Izuku. He would’ve sucked at comforting her.

Instead, he turned on his heel, gaze set on the school building. More specifically, Okayama-sensei, who was seated on a bench in the shade.

Her head shot up before he’d made it to her, most likely hearing his approach. His footsteps were heavy, leaving deep set imprints in the ground.

“They’re doing it again,” he said, barely suppressing the growl that sat, low and thick, at the back of his throat.

Okayama-Sensei tilted her head to the side, acting like she was innocent. There’s no way, no feasible way that she couldn’t have noticed the bullying.

“They dumped bugs on Tsu’s head,” he said, daring her to push the matter aside again.

She dared, though.

“Tsuyu should be making more of an effort to get along with her classmates, Bakugo-kun. A few stray insects won’t hurt her.”

She spoke to him with the air of  _ knowing _ .

It was something a lot of adults did, and it pissed him off. The others didn’t mind to the same extent that he did, getting treated like an entire other species just because of age.

Izuku was different, he could stand the adults  _ dumbing things down.  _ Katsuki wasn’t capable. Sugar coated words were crushed between his teeth, and he lashed back. How dare they assume he wouldn’t understand?

If he doesn’t understand, then just fucking  _ explain it _ , goddamnit. 

But even without sugary words, or honeyed massurances, Katsuki knew.

He stalked back off into the playground. The teachers weren’t going to do shit. This kind of stuff happened a lot. It’s much easier to handle a class that channels their aggression on one student. One student isn’t hard to handle.

The thought left a sour taste in his mouth. Admittedly, he didn’t know much, just the bullying rates and common issues with teachers from news broadcasts.

He knew enough, though.

Izuku waved when he noticed Katsuki, his face covered with little smears of dirt. Tsuyu was in a similar state. So was Hitoshi, surprisingly. He must have wondered over after the commotion.

“Your uniforms are covered in mud,” he pointed out, jabbing a finger into Izuku’s lapel.

His sibling gasped, and seemed to finally notice the mess. 

“Oh nooo,” he said, hands twisting fretfully, “Sensei is going to be so mad at us, Kacchan.”

Katsuki glanced back at Okayama-Sensei, and then at Tsu, and the tangles in her hair that Auntie Beru had brushed this morning.

He resolutely shoved his hands deep into the puddle, and made a show of smearing it across every inch of him.

“Okayama-Sensei is a bitch,” he says, and watched Tsu’s eyes go wide, “I don’t care what she thinks, because whatever comes out of her mouth is wrong.”

Izuku was quiet, and then a small smile pulled at the freckles on his cheeks. 

“If everything she says is wrong, then she can’t teach us,” he said, “So we’re going to go home, and tell Mama.”

Tell Mama. Not Mom, not even Auntie, but Mama. Tsuyu might be Auntie’s daughter, and Mom might have the power to do what she wanted, but no one dealt with bullies better than Mama.

“How are we going to get home?” Hitoshi signed, easily grasping the meaning behind their words.

Izuku pointed to the puddle and  _ grinned. _

* * *

  
  


Rolling in the puddle was worth it, Izuku thought. Even though he had to fight the urge to just let the mud and filth fall off his body.

Hitoshi even got in the puddle, and he hated being dirty.

Okayama-Sensei took one look at them, and paled. The mud wasn’t the best smelling, either, and they didn’t have showers at the elementary school.

She called Mama, since Mom was working and Auntie was resting.

Inko pulled up to the school and ran up to them, before she stopped short and held her nose.

“Really? Only on the second day? Who’s idea was this?”

Izuku gleefully stuck up a hand as they walked to the car, the teaching staff all too eager to get them outside.

“It was mine, Mama!” He said, very proud of himself.

He went to open the car door, but Inko stopped his hand, and opened the trunk instead, laying the seats down until it was all flat. She grabbed some towels that Beru had left in the car (Tsuyu got wet at the strangest times), and laid them down.

“Sit in there. Normally I wouldn’t let you be without seatbelts, but our house is just down the street.”

Izuku let his feet dangle as he watched the houses go by, and heard the gravel crunch as they pulled into their driveway.

Before they could step a foot inside, Inko motioned to the water pump. 

“Throw all your clothes in there, and then go to the bathhouse. Whatever caused this can wait,” she said, shaking her head at them. She seemed to be trying her best to act mad, but her lips kept twitching.

She went inside to stifle her giggles at her three gangly, mud covered children, and Tsuyu, who was somehow more coated than everyone else.

The kids took off their clothes and dumped them in a wet heap, and flitted across the lawn, disappearing into the bathhouse. Only Hitoshi remained, still not comfortable enough with the casual nudity the other kids exhibited. 

Inko smiled and handed him a towel. He stripped then, tucking the towel around himself, and ran to join the others. Inko idly noticed that he would need an adult sized towel. He was just so tall for his age, his calves flashed from under the towel, along with the pink bottoms of his feet.

Tsuyu was raised without a need for clothes, as she was normally in the woods or in school. In school she wore clothes of course, but that became optional in the woods. She liked clothes, though, which was good.

Izuku and Katsuki were similar. They understood the need for clothes, but didn’t really care about having to keep them on when no one was around.

Hitoshi was raised in an institution, mostly, until a foster family made a request. He was definitely taught to keep a good level of modesty.

Inko thought it was cute.

* * *

  
  


Everyone arrived home around the same time, when the kids were almost done. Inko explained the situation, and the kids came out and went upstairs to change.

Their carefree mood has dimmed down a bit. Inko couldn’t quite place the weight on their shoulders. Apprehension?

They all sat down for dinner.

Mitsuki was about to take a bite when she noticed Masaru and Inko gesturing to her.

Hisashi was hiding a smirk behind his cup of ginger ale. Mitsuki silently swore to make him address the kid issue next time.

“So,” She said as she cut a second piece, “What happened at school?”

The kids glanced at each other, mostly at Tsuyu, which struck her as strange. Normally she wasn’t the leader in these types of things.

Katsuki sat up, “Tsu is being bullied and the teacher isn’t doing anything. I don’t want to go back.”

No one had been expecting that. Ganma and Hisashi were on their feet, inspecting Tsu head to toe. Once they had deemed her physically unharmed, all the adults relaxed.

Beru looked at Katsuki very seriously, “Katsuki, I need you to tell me exactly what happened.”

And so he did. He didn’t leave out a single thing, not even when Hisashi and Mitsuki looked like they were two seconds away from beating the crap out of Okayama-sensei themselves. The air around Genma has very quickly turned dark, with a sharp biting smell laying in the air around him.

Beru and Inko had, predictably, burst into tears.

Inko, however, with years of practice, picked herself back up together, until all that remained was a cold rage. It settled on her features and spread to her bones, chilling her from the inside out.

Tsuyu had actually began to speak at the end, when Beru asked her what the bullies had done.

“We need to know everything, honey, so we can do something about it,” Inko told her placatingly.

“Sensei caused it,” Tsuyu said aloud, “I don’t think she liked sign. She would call on me and laugh when I signed. That started it.”

The night went slowly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Japan is well known for it's high youth suicide rates. Some classrooms breed toxic environments for kids. Sometimes one child that is considered too different will be picked on by the entire class as a whole, with the teacher either ignoring it or joining it themselves, as they want the respect of most of the class and get stress relief as well. it's sad but true sometimes. This especially goes for 'Hafu's' or people with mixed blood. I recommend watching some videos on youtube and reading a few articles. theres even a documentary.


	11. Moonstone: The Travelers Stone

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Masaru comes up with a plan, and the Bakudoriya's get a surprising email.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Readers looking at the character tags: "huh, wonder when Toga and Touya come in."
> 
> welp here it is, i am very sorry. also updates might be slower!!! as you may have noticed. what i've posted has nearly caught up to what i have written.   
> Oh gosh i'm sorry but uh, yeah the sad boy hours aren't ending. SO WARNING!! This chapter has various mentions of abuse and there is a scene featuring it explicitly. It's quick, and nothing life threatening or permanently scarring, but there's a slap, and i may have been channeling bad vaguely remembered childhood shit, but yeah. Sorry. BUT THE PLOT IS FINALLY HAPPENING KINDA YAYYYYY.

The kids were pulled from school the next day, in a unanimous decision from the adults.

They let the kids play for a week while they figured out the next course of action.

“I can’t exactly homeschool them, since I’m heading out on my tour soon,” Mitsuki said, shuffling her scrap paper into a slightly more manageable heap.

“I have work here, but I’ll occasionally be traveling as well, and my work takes up time,” Hisashi said. He looked uncomfortable, and Inko rubbed his arm.

“They don’t mind that you work often, dear. They really don’t,” She said, “But they need to learn things. Important things. They’ve been introduced to the public, so they need to have a balanced education.”

Masaru looked thoughtful, tapping his fingers on the table.

“This is a world wide tour, right Mitsuki?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I planned on coming back for every other weekend, because it lasts a long time.”

“You’re trying to open a charity for children’s education as well, right?” He asked.

Mitsuki stares at him, “We’ve been talking about this for like, two years honey.”

Masaru stood up, and pulled their large white board out, which was used to ration out chores or brainstorm. Tsu had drawn a bunch of tadpoles at the bottom, and he took care to not erase them.

“You can debut the charity by showing how much children’s education means to you. What better education is there than to travel around the world? And just experience culture?”

Beru held up a hand, “Are you saying that Mitsuki should just  _ take the children with her? _ ”

He nodded, “They do better with the tutors we hire and their online classes. I’m sure Tsuyu would do amazing as well. Think of it as an exotic boarding school.”

Beru looked like she wasn’t convinced.

“Let’s just think it over,” Masaru said, “Inko can come, and Beru can probably travel with them as well, once the baby is old enough.”

“They’d need protection,” Hisashi pointed out, “And Mitsuki’s normal guards won’t cut it.”

Mitsuki snorted, “Well that isn’t an issue. Those men who teach them martial arts, they love the kids, and retirement doesn’t suit them. I’m sure they'd accept.”

Slowly, a plan was built. The idea was crazy, but Inko knew that a few of her college friends had traveled the world with their own children, and certainly didn’t regret it.

The talk was lasting far into the night.

“If It’s to promote the education charity, then perhaps we should invite some other children, as well.”

Mitsuki pursed her lips, “Hisashi and I can send letters to other people in our circles. We’d get benefits from endorsements as well, anyways. Well known parents, who send their kids with us will probably promote the charity.”

Masaru tipped his head, “But we can’t expect many to accept. There’s not many parents who’d send their kids with a stranger around the world, especially since you only recently dipped your toes back into the celebrity world.”

The blonde woman snorted, “Don’t call it that, you weirdo. You make it sound like a different planet.”

Details were further hashed out, and the kids took a sleeping Samidare off of his mother and all went to bed upstairs. Hisashi would find them in the morning, in a massive heap on the floor.

____________

After a week of discussion, and meetings with her team, and her manager, and calling every single place she was going to and letting them know, the next step came.

The kids already knew, as they’d been told the following morning. Kids liked adventures, so there definitely wasn’t much fuss.

Recruiting the two retired pro heroes as bodyguards was as easy as Mitsuki predicted. All she had to do was send Inko down with Izuku and Tsuyu, and their combined innocence left no room to argue.

Next, emailed invitations were sent to parents of the upper circle. 

As they expected, they all mostly declined, although Yaoyorozu Mimi emailed back that she would meet up with them during summer break, with Momo.

In fact, there was only one person who agreed to send their child. Mitsuki was surprised, since she had sent invitations to heroes in the top ten with children, but it was mostly as an afterthought. Hisashi was more connected to them than she was.

Her eyes focused on the response email, the name standing out on the screen.

_ Todoroki Enji. _

______________

Endeavor was at the end of his rope, metaphorically. 

Shoto was coming along nicely, even without the setback that Rei was. He was stubborn, though, and refused to use his fire. Enji needed to focus on his training more.

But he couldn’t do that. Not with his rebellious eldest child, Touya, constantly acting out.

His flames were powerful, no doubt, but his body simply wasn’t built to withstand them. In the end, another failure. 

However, Touya was different from his other children, overtaking them easily in sheer attitude and disobedience.

Touya kept trying to run away from home, and no amount of punishment could stop him. If his eldest child ran away from home, only a few years after his wife was sent to the hospital, then there would be a massive media storm.

He was a pro hero, and couldn’t watch Touya constantly. Sooner or later, the boy was going to succeed in his attempts, running off with that little blonde haired girl who hung off of him all the time.

The email was like a gift from the gods. He couldn’t see a single downside. Touya would be traveling around the world with an influential figure, as a debut for a charity. That would paint himself as a pro-hero in a more positive light, and the issue of Touya running away in a foreign country was hardly a worry as well.

Bakugo Mitsuki wrote that two retired pro-heroes (prominent pro-heroes in their time, he noted) would be acting as bodyguard personnel for the children. 

Even if Touya managed to escape, the fault would then lie purely on the woman’s shoulders.

He sent back a confirmation.

Touya was in his room doing homework (he was a surprisingly good student, at least) when he walked in. The boy looked up and glared at him, bandages wrapped loosely around one of his wrists.

Enji set a printed copy of the invitation, and his response, on the table. 

“What’s this?” His son asked. Enji merely smirked, not answering. Touya flushed, and snatched the paper off of his desk, reading it.

The paper crinkled in his hands, smoking a bit. Enji watched with no small sense of satisfaction. Touya was smart, he would be able to easily see that there was no way out of this. He knew that he would be being watched extremely closely until he was sent away. 

Any escape plans would end in pain. 

He watched as his eldest visually struggled for a loophole, “I want to take Himiko with me,” he said, not breaking eye contact.

Enji didn’t see much of an issue with that. The girl's parents would be easily swayed with money, from what he’s heard of the Toga family, and he’d rather that Touya go without a fuss. If he wanted his little girlfriend to go with him, then Enji could do that.

He nodded, and leaned down carefully. “If you try  _ anything _ before you get on the plane, you will regret it, Touya.”

He grabbed the preteens chin, fingers curling into his cold skin. Touya knew better than to look away.

“Do you understand me?” His fingers tightened, and Touya made a small, pained noise. Hah, served the kid right for all the trouble he put Enji through. 

There wasn’t any response, the boy just glared. 

It made Enji want to laugh. 

“You remind me of myself at your age,” he said, smiling viciously.

Touya flinched back for the first time, and Enji used the opportunity to backhand the child across the face, knocking him down.

He grasped the fabric of Touya’s shirt, and pulled him to his feet, shaking him by it. 

“Now, answer my question.  _ Do you understand me?” _

The boy looked properly shaken, which was rare these days.

“Ye-Yes sir,” he muttered, eyes welling up with tears in reflex. He stubbornly refused to let them fall as long as Enji was in the room, which the man respected.

He took his son's arm and shoved him back into his desk chair.

“Glad to know we see eye to eye. Finish your homework, Touya. I’ll call your school in the morning.”

The door slid shut resolutely, and Enji walked away, ignoring the sobs that his first child was trying to muffle into his arms.

_____________

“So Endeavor is sending his oldest son, but not any of his other children?” Beru asked, spinning the spoon around in her cup of tea.

Mitsuki nodded, “It’s weird, because his youngest is literally the same age as our kids. From what I hear, Touya is 12.”

The other woman hummed, “His other children might be too shy, or maybe he’s more comfortable sending his eldest. A lot of parents are more protective of their younger children.”

There was a bang from overhead, followed by a loud thud, and laughter. Mitsuki smiled, and leaned back in her seat, cupping her hands around her mouth towards the netting that replaced the ceiling by the kitchen.

“Some of us are trying to have a quiet morning, munchkins. Keep the noise down.”

There was a beat, and then someone ran to the net, “Sorry Mom,” Izuku said, sounding very much out of breath. There was more laughter in the background, and Mitsuki could hear Izuku turn around, audibly exasperated.

“Shhhh, I’m talking to Mom,” he said, before pressing his face back to the net, “We’re playing house, Mom.”

Mitsuki’s eyebrows furrowed, and she shared a glance with Beru.

“What kind of house are you playing?”

There was a loud roar in the background, “Dinosaur house!”

Mitsuki nodded, “Alright, well tell the other dinosaurs to keep it at an indoor level. If you want to be loud, go outside.”

“Okay!”

And he bounded off.

“So, Dinosaur house,” Beru said, amused. She tried to hide a grin behind her mug.

Mitsuki shook her head, “I swear I don’t know how they think of these things. I do know that Katsuki has been really obsessed with Dinosaurs lately, and that he’s dragged Tsuyu into it.”

“So that’s what all the dinosaur drawings are about,” Beru mused.

Their conversation was stopped by Mitsuki’s pocket buzzing. She pulled out her phone, and Beru drank her tea. There was a comfortable silence.

“Anyone important?” Beru asked.

“Oh yeah, it’s Endeavor again. His son wants to bring his best friend or something. Toga Himiko. From the Toga family, I presume. Pretty high up.”

“That should be fine then, right?”

Mitsuki waved her hand, “Oh sure, I would’ve sent them an invitation too if I had their contact. They don’t do a lot of public appearances, so I don’t really see them at balls or galas.”

She quickly typed out a reply, and then sent it off.

“So really, we are only going to have two extra guests, although I have been talking with the guardian of one of my usual child models, and she heard about the charity debut. She has asked if her grandson can come as well,” the coffee pot beeped, and she turned to take out a mug, “So we’re picking up both her and her grandson. She used to be a famous dance instructor, so I figure the kids would love a few lessons.”

Beru hummed around her drink, looking inside the mug. 

“This is really happening, isn’t it?” She asked, almost rhetorically, “My little girl is going to travel the world. She’s going to go to places I haven’t even been to.”

Mitsuki grinned, “Isn’t it great, though?”

The other woman smiled, “It really is, I think.”

_____________

_ Bakugo Mitsuki, supermodel and designer of Tsuki, has begun to branch out into education with her newest charity. _

_ Author, Hateru Sakura. _

_ Bakugo Mitsuki turned heads during her initial debut, as one of the youngest designers in history to become a globally known brand. She started off in modeling, and then made the switch that changed her life. However, after only a few years of running the business, Mitsuki revealed to the public that she would be taking a hiatus from the spotlight, while still running her company. _

_ Even without public appearances or interviews, Tsuki remained a global powerhouse, one of the best brands to purchase high-fashion and trendy clothing from. Recently, however, Mitsuki announced an end to her stay in the shadows, and came back into the light through the yearly Yaoyorozu Summer Gala. _

_ This time, she wasn’t alone. With her was her husband, Bakugo Masaru (a famous interior and architectural designer in his own right), Midoriya Hisashi (one of the brightest scientists of his generation), Midoriya Inko (his wife), and a set of four children.  _

_ Not much information was offered on the children, other than what was said in some short interviews, but the newest child celebrities are definitely a refreshing splash to the world. Focusing even more on children, the Tsuki brand has announced the creation of a charity program devoted to youth learning and education around the world. _

“Doors need to be opened in our society today,”  _ Mitsuki said in an interview _ , “Our education systems, outside of hero schools, haven’t been updated since quirks came to be, and even before that. This program looks to take promising kids who do well, and propel them further. We just want kids to reach their dreams, whatever they might be.”

_ To further cement the program, as it isn’t in effect yet, she’s debuting it by taking her children, and a few others, on a global learning trip during her returning tour. _

_ To further discuss, things… _

**(Click to read full article?)**

_______________

The media ate it up in a way that reminded Mitsuki of when you would throw bread crumbs into a river of catfish.

It was fast, loud, and competitive. Articles were being sent out at an extreme rate, one after the other.

Mitsuki’s public inbox and business inbox were flooded. She provided statements for a few magazines she’d worked with before, but mostly her mind was focused on the task at hand.

Packing up for the trip. Beru has already packed all of Tsuyu’s things, nicely and neatly like the saint she was, but Mitsuki’s children were an entirely different story.

Their room was  _ trashed _ . Clothes and bracelets and shoes were strewn everywhere, toys littered the floor. Izuku was overjoyed that he didn’t have to pack many clothes, since he didn’t need any. His closet consisted of children’s catalogs and outfits Mitsuki printed out from Pinterest and children’s fashion blogs. His favorite outfits were all printed and put in a thick photo album, sorted by season, color, and style.

The rest of his suitcase, however, was empty. Izuku was using the opportunity to stuff it with his remaining favorite things. There was the box of crystal jewelry, a few  **dozen** notebooks, and countless All Might themed toys. 

Katsuki was very picky with clothing, and so far only had two sets packed, despite Mitsuki telling him she could buy him anything from her stores. He stood in front of his closet, looking at the clothes inside with narrowed eyes.

Hitoshi, oh Mitsuki wanted to sigh. Hitoshi has obviously never packed a proper bag in his life. He had thrown a good quarter of his clothes into his suitcase, and was struggling to close it.

Cutting down on his clothes took a lot of convincing, but Mitsuki finally managed. Even so, she had to give him a second bag in the end.

She hoped the other two children were packed well. She’d included a list of necessary clothes and items. 

She could only pray they’d followed through.

___________

Himiko blinked, watching the car drive away a bit too fast for a neighborhood speed limit. They must’ve been pretty glad to be rid of her for a year.

She grabbed her suitcases and pressed the doorbell near the gate, which was a first. She went to the Todoroki house a lot to see Touya, but normally he helped her sneak in. She’d never rang the doorbell before.

There was a shout from inside, and a boy her age ran outside to let her in. Himiko blinked at him and looked at his shoes, which weren’t even on his feet properly. He hadn’t even sat down to put his outdoor shoes on?

“Hi,” she said anyways, ignoring the shoes, “I’m Touya’s friend.”

The boy scrunched up his nose a bit, the skin pulling at the big bandage over his eye, “But you look as old as me?”

She looked him up and down, and they stalled in the front door.

“When were you born?” She asked.

“January, 2123,” he said.

She began counting on her fingers, then smiled victoriously at him, “I’m seventeen whole months older than you! I was born in August in 2121.”

“Touya’s still older than you,” he rebuked, frowning. She waved him off.

“It’s fine, Touya is my best friend even if he is older than me.”

“How much older?”

“Like three and a half years or something,” she said idly, taking off her shoes. She left her suitcase in the entrance, and made a beeline for Touya’s room, her socked feet thudding quietly on the tatami.

She pushed the door open, to see Touya silently putting a few notebooks into a bag. She didn’t know how someone could silently and calmly put notebooks in a bag and still look so angry, but Touya was pulling it off.

His father stood off to the side, watching him. When she opened the door, both of them looked at her.

“Toga Himiko,” Endeavor said, inclining his head. She thought his face was stupid, because Touya had said so, but she nodded back at him, bowing a bit. Then she threw herself at Touya.

“Touyaaaaa! Are you excited? We get to go on a plane! And we’ll be together for a whole year, maybe more!”

He shoved the last of the notebooks into his duffel bag, not really doing anything about the weight on his back.

He stood up, and she slid off of him back to her feet. 

He gave her a tense smile, “I’m totally excited,” he said, but she could see the anxiety in his frame. People were scared of her commonly enough that she knew the look and body language by now.

He wasn’t scared of her, because she knew that Touya loved her a lot, but his father being in the room was definitely stressing him out.

He grabbed his bags, and moved into the hallway.

“We’re leaving as soon as the driver pulls up,” He told her, and put his bags by her own set at the door.

Endeavor just leaned against Touya’s door, watching them. Himiko thought it was pretty creepy.

The other three Todoroki kids, Touya’s brothers and sister, ran up to him. Himiko let go, and stepped away.

The older two were actually closer to Himiko’s age than the youngest was, she knew that from Touya. Those two hugged Touya, crying and telling him all kinds of nice things, like ‘we’ll miss you’ and ‘we’ll send emails every day’.

The youngest, Shoto, looked a bit different. It took her a bit to identify the feeling he was displaying. In fact, it wasn’t until she noticed the bruises peeking out from his collar that she recognized it. The bandage made more sense now, and she knew that Touya’s dad hit him a lot.

Shoto-kun was jealous. He probably didn’t mean to be, and Himiko didn’t blame him. She’d be jealous too. 

Touya said that his dad wanted to train Shoto more now, but couldn’t because Touya was around. Touya just got a free ticket away from Endeavor, and Shoto would be left stuck inside this house, with Endeavors full attention.

She felt bad for him. She wished that they could come too.

Endeavor's phone buzzed, and he glanced at the screen.

“The car is here. Natsuo, Fuyumi, get off of your brother. He’ll be late.”

Himiko knew he was only being nice because she was there. If Himiko wasn’t in the house, or was waiting outside, she had no doubt that there’d be a lot more physical contact involved in the separation of the siblings.

She shoved her shoes back on, tossing Touya his own pair, and opened the door. She took two of her bags, but left the others. 

Endeavor wouldn’t make a nine year old carry all those suitcases. No, of course he wouldn’t.

Not when paparazzi could be anywhere, especially on this day. 

Touya’s traveling hadn’t been officially announced, since Mitsuki didn’t want the kids bombarded with media, but reporters are sneakier than most people give them credit.

Himiko got the pleasure of watching the #2 hero put her bright pink and red bags in the back of the car.

It was the little things, really.

The driver was given the address, and Touya’s siblings waved tearfully from the front door. 

“They’re not coming to the car to say goodbye?” She asked, leaning on Touya’s shoulder.

He shook his head, “Dad already told them beforehand that they had to wave from the door.”

The car was put into drive, and the driver turned around in his seat.

“You kids got seatbelts on?” He asked, then narrowed his eyes at Himiko, “Shouldn’t you be in a booster?”

She pouted, “I’m nearly tall enough to not need one, though.”

He gave her a pointed look, “That doesn’t matter, what’s legal matters. Where is it?”

Himiko sighed, “In the back.”

He smiled at her, and got out, opening the trunk and grabbing it. She unbuckled and scooted over so he could put it in her spot, then sat down and let herself be buckled. 

She could’ve done it herself, but she wasn’t in much of a mood to argue with the man.

He got back in the car and off they went.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So. It's not good to hit your kids. At all. I've been hit, and heck I've hit kids bc it was so normalized around me that I didn't see anything wrong with it. Also, my parents are great, and my moms way better now than she used to be so please don't be angry at them. My family esp on my moms side come from a long line of abusers, and I'm proud of my mom for breaking the cycle, even if it took a bit.
> 
> Getting away from the depressing sad stuff, I won't be touching a lot of plot stuff that happens on their travels. I'm setting up what their lives up until highschool will look like, and focusing on major events in that timeframe. Soon I'm moving onto canon!! Finally!!
> 
> Oh! And if anyone's confused about the dinosaur house scene, remember that a section of the kids room floor (and so also the downstairs ceiling) was rotten, so they cut it out and put up a play net. There's a wooden floor thing that can slide out over it tho if the kids want more room to run!!


	12. Labradorite: Companion Through Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Private jets are fun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so uh, hi. It has been two months. Here's an extra long chapter? Yeah I suck, but this chapter is almost 7k so- 6970 words boyo.
> 
> Also, wHY did I include a bit about Shouto's bandage? I literally said it'd been years since the accident. Like 2 years. Let's just say it wasn't the burn. Yeah. He has a cut. Totally.
> 
> OH YEAH I MADE FANART FOR THIS THING HOW DO I POST THAT UHH

Mitsuki pulled up to the airport, smoothing her hair against the wind as she got out. An airplane flew over her head, terribly loud. She was glad Inko had made sure that Katsuki and Tsuyu had ear protection.

Hitoshi wasn’t bothered too much by loud noise, as he grew up in a very loud house, and Izuku wasn’t bothered by most things, but Katsuki’s hearing was already damaged. Tsuyu’s ears were just sensitive. Not her normal ears, but her other ears.

Tsuyu was a human with all the aspects of a frogs, and that included their ears, which looked to the public like two darker circles of skin on her temples.

Frogs had good hearing. Not exceptional, but better than humans.

To solve the ear sensitivity issue, Tsuyu was wearing a tight headband that was designed specially by the Yaoyorozu’s for Tsuyu, to muffle sound.

She had two extra pairs of child sized earmuffs, alongside Izuku’s and Hitoshi’s unused ones.

She didn’t trust any kind of ear protection that she didn’t provide for her new wards.

And wasn’t that an exciting new concept? Mitsuki has never personally met these children, and she was going to be essentially fostering them for the next year at least.

Inko and the kids began to like out of the car as staff opened the trunk, loading luggage onto a cart, which was to be taken to their jet.

Izuku had been particularly excited all week, attaching himself to new concepts as he tended to do. This week it was planes and jets, apparently. Izuku had watched three plane documentaries already, and countless YouTube videos.

He watched the planes fly by with rapt attention, and then tiptoed up to the workers, and began to nervously ask them questions. Probably about the planes.

No one could really deny Izuku, so one of the men picked Izuku up and sat him on top of the luggage on the cart, so Izuku could write easier in his notebook.

Hitoshi was very much staying close to Mitsuki, staring at her boots with an interest that she didn’t know people could even have for boots, and _she_ was a designer.

Tsuyu was with Katsuki, who was with Inko, who was... plastering sunscreen on their faces?

“Inko,” she shouted over the noise, “What are you doing?”

Inko gave her an impatient look. She was very stressed, obviously, going a bit overboard with the safety concerns.

“You’re much closer to the ozone layer in a plane. I don’t want them getting UV rays, it can lead to skin cancer.”

Mitsuki’s brow wrinkled, “You can’t get a sunburn on a plane, Inko. UV rays can’t go through the thick glass.”

“UVB rays can’t, but UVA rays can and they lead to aging skin and skin cancer! Now hand me Hitoshi. Izuku is at least safe since he doesn’t have skin.”

Mitsuki didn’t want to argue with the woman, so she gave his shoulder an apologetic squeeze and then passed him over.

He shot her a small glare, so apology not accepted then.

A car pulled up, tires cracking the gravel on the driveway until they rolled onto the cement.

All four kids snapped their heads towards the car, most likely excited (or nervous) to meet the other kids.

The door opened, and someone who was definitely not a child stepped out.

A floating foot pressed onto the ground, and the floating body followed. The man wasn’t dressed how the kids normally saw him, monk outfit gone. He was wearing black pants and a shirt, instead.

His companion, shorter and thicker, with narrowed eyes, joined him on the side of the car.

Izuku hopped off the cart, running forward, “HADO-SENSEI! KUMO-SENSEI!!”

Mitsuki didn’t know why he was so excited, since he had known the entire week that they were coming.

They ruffled his hair, and Katsuki tried to head over, only to be stopped by Inko’s cry of,

“Katsuki get back here, you aren’t done yet!”

Tsuyu held very still and waited for the lotion to be applied, and so she was done first, and darted after Izuku.

Hado, since he was the only one with arms, held one out to her, which she used like a gymnastics bar, swinging herself up and over, onto his shoulders.

Izuku was in a similar state, dangling from a floating hand, talking animatedly to Kumo. His notebook was stuffed into his sweatpants.

Mitsuki had told the kids to wear whatever they wanted. She had full wardrobes on the jet if they wanted to change, but she pushed them towards comfier clothes.

That was the reason why Tsuyu was still in her pajamas. Any chance she had to put on clothes less, she took.

Mitsuki suspected that the only issue would be getting her into her actual outfit before they reached France. The paparazzi was definitely waiting for them there.

Another car pulled up, a few minutes late. Yao, a driver Mitsuki regularly employed, got out of the car and waved.

“Sorry about the hold up,” he said jauntily, “We had to have a bathroom break.”

He opened the door, helping out a young girl around Katsuki’s age, looking to be just hitting puberty. Her hair was hanging around her face, feathery and blonde.

The boy went out after her, his hair a bright contrast to hers. It was spiky and a deep, dull red, shadowing his eyes. He wore a scowl, focused on his friend. Mitsuki noticed he seemed older, in the early throes of puberty as well.

Girls did tend to hit puberty earlier than boys, so it made sense. They were even the same height, though Mitsuki doubted that would last long.

Izuku and Tsuyu were put down, and the other two children with Inko apparently had passed whatever sunscreen standard she was holding them to, and they all approached the newcomers.

Noticing that Inko was following them, she decided that greeting the children could wait, and she went to greet and talk to the new bodyguards.

* * *

Touya wasn’t in the _best_ of moods, but it wasn’t a _terrible_ mood, so he knew he could deal. Himiko made it better. He wasn’t sure what he’d do if she hadn’t been able to come.

Himiko got out first, and he passed her booster to the driver, hopping out as well.

A flash of green drew his eye first, and he found himself looking at two kids, who were pretty short. Both had green hair, and they were using the two men standing there like a playground.

And they were letting them? The girl was wearing _pajamas_. Were these people insane?

They swung to the ground as soon as they saw them get out of the car, and Touya pulled Himiko back a little by the back of her T-shirt.

There were two other kids who noticed them, and they were covered in something, the white cream looking particularly out of place on the blonde, who was kind of tan.

There was an adult with them, a short woman with green hair like the other kids.

He recognized Mitsuki (who wouldn’t), who made eye contact with him and smiled, but then went to talk with the playground men.

The green haired kids made it to them first, not running exactly, but they were definitely fast.

“Hi! I’m Izuku and this is Tsu, it’s so nice to meet you, Mom hasn’t really told us anything about you to ‘prevent bias’ or something but you look really cool, are you guys siblings? Does that mean you have similar quirks? Tsu’s whole family has quirks like her but Kacchan’s quirk is a mix of Mom and Dads, and mine is like a mix of Papa’s and my grandmother, because she was made of earth-“

“Izuku honey, give them room to _speak_.” The woman had made it over, other two kids at her heels, cream and all.

Touya didn’t really know who to look at or greet. He wasn’t the best with people, and how the fuck did that girl with a rock on her forehead talk so damn much? Did she breathe at all?

Himiko, _what would he do without her_ , spoke up instead.

“I’m Toga Himiko! This is Touya. I’m nine and he’s twelve,” she said, waving.

“I’m Katsuki, and this is Hitoshi. Hitoshi and Tsu don’t talk much, but Izuku, Hitoshi, and I are eight. Tsu is still seven,” The blonde said.

Touya noticed that his blonde hair was way paler than Himiko’s.

The older woman smiled at him, “It’s nice to meet you two. I’m Midoriya Inko. You can call me Inko, or even Aunty Inko like Tsuyu does,” She motioned to Tsuyu, who made a frog-like noise.

Himiko was all over her instantly, “Waaah, you’re so cute! You really look like a frog.”

Tsuyu looked proud, she held up her hands, but hesitated and put them back down, “That’s because I _am_ a frog,” she said, quietly.

Touya decided that these people were crazy, but at least they were better than his dad.

Himiko seemed to like them.

Mitsuki had stopped talking to the men, and pointed to a direction, which they followed.

She walked over to them, “What’s up? Your parents probably told you already, but this is going to be a long trip. We’re going all the way around the world, but I’m happy to have you all with me. We can talk in the jet, because it’s loud as hell out here.”

Touya liked her a little better, just because she didn’t seem to care much about sucking up to him because of Endeavor, that might be because of her own fame though.

He spoke up for the first time since arriving, “Aren’t there other kids coming?”

Mitsuki laughed, “Haha, no. You two are the only ones who accepted. There’s not a lot of parents who send their kids away around the world.”

She motioned towards them, “Does everyone have their travel bags?”

Touya didn’t really know what she meant, because he was decently sure he hadn’t brought anything except what was necessary. Himiko had brought a coloring book, but other than that, nothing.

He just nodded. The other kids ran off, and grabbed backpacks from the pile of luggage. Mitsuki led them to a jet.

Touya had never been in a jet before, and he just expected the inside to look like an airplane, but the space inside was wider, with actual furniture inside.

There was a fucking couch. And tables. And a _television._

The floors had fluffy rugs, and it looked like a house, not a jet.

“This is the coolest shit, oh my god,” It was Katsuki who spoke, “How come we haven’t been in this before, Mom?”

Mitsuki snorted, “Because we’re not taking a private jet for family joyrides, Katsuki.”

Katsuki pouted, and scuffed a foot on the fluffy carpet.

Izuku’s shoes disappeared in a handful of light sparkles, to the shock of Touya and Himiko behind them. She ran inside, and threw herself on the couch. The flight attendant appeared, “Hello Bakugo-san, it’s good to see you again.”

Inko perked up, “Ah! Sakura-San! I haven’t seen you since highschool,” She nudged Mitsuki, “You didn’t tell me Sakura-San was our flight attendant!”

Mitsuki flushed, “I forgot, actually. I came across her while looking for jets, because she was listed as an attendant. So I knew I had to get this one.”

Sakura smiled, “It was very sweet of you. Alright, we need to leave soon, so I need everyone to sit down, okay?”

Everyone did so, and Touya noticed the two playground men were already seated.

Sakura smiles, “Now, I can assure you that our pilot was top of his class, and is former personnel of the Kōkū Jieitai, but even so, there’s only the two of us for staff here. So, we’re going to all learn the safety regulations. We only are going to do this the first few flights, until we are sure that we know them. Okay?”

They all agreed, and the woman began to explain in depth how the safety features worked. Touya listened because he was told, and the adults did as well, but he could tell that Himiko only had half an ear to the lecture. The littlest girl, Tsuyu, definitely wasn’t listening.

Hitoshi and Katsuki were also listening, but not really in a focused way. Izuku, that curly haired girl, was hanging onto every word like her life depended on it.

The flight attendant finished her lecture by saying, “-and remember, I’ll be around, and the jet will be on autopilot for a large portion of this flight. So, feel free to talk to him.”

The cockpit was actually easily seen from where they were, since the jet wasn’t big. The pilot, a man in his late thirties with dark skin (if he thought Katsuki’s tan was dark, this man had him beat thoroughly), waved at them.

“I’m Bouba Adamo, but you can call me Adamo, okay?” The man said, with a French sounding accent. His voice was probably the deepest Touya had ever heard in his life.

Izuku waved a hand, “We’re going to France! Are you French?”

Adamo laughed, and shook his head, “No, I’m from Cameroon, but we speak French there.”

The jet had to take off, so everyone buckled in their seats. There was turbulence when they took off, but Mitsuki assured them that it was completely normal.

Once the jet was steady in the sky, and they were allowed to unbuckle, Mitsuki spoke up.

“Alright,” she said, “So I’m going to explain exactly what’s happening, and we’re going to get cozy with each other, alright?”

Nods all around.

“I am a designer, and I wanted to start a charity for children’s education, but didn’t know how to advertise it enough to put it ahead of the crowd. My kids also need an education since the schools in Japan weren’t working out. We came up with this. I need you to know that I have a bit of a different romantic relationship than most people do.”

Touya frowned, he knew that some people still thought same sex couples were weird, but it was practically an outdated belief at this point. He glanced at Inko, then faced Mitsuki again, face taut.

She must’ve seen their skeptical looks, because she chuckled, “No, it’s not because I’m bisexual. My husband and I are in a relationship with Izuku’s parents, Inko and her husband. So he and Katsuki and Hitoshi are all siblings. Tsuyu is the daughter of some close friends, who we’ve become very close to.”

That was definitely not normal.

Himiko blinked, then pointed at Izuku, “You’re a boy?!” She asked, shocked.

Touya was expecting that, and a surprised laugh bubbled out of his lips, “That’s what you took from that?” He said, smiling.

Izuku grinned, “I don’t care if people think I’m a girl or boy. My quirk makes me sexless, but I just normally go by He. You can call me whatever, though,” he said, with an ease that suggested he’d explained his gender dozens of times already.

“My quirk is Gem! So my actual body is this,” he tapped the crystal on his forehead, “My body that you see is just a solid light projection. I can do a lot of things with my quirk, so I like it a lot.”

Apparently this started Quirk sharing time, because Katsuki said, “I sweat Nitroglycerin. It explodes. I’m not gonna show you because we’re on a plane.”

“Jet, Kacchan.”

“Whatever.”

Hitoshi nervously said, “Brainwashing,” in a tiny voice that reminded Touya of Shoto. He didn’t get to see him a lot, but he already missed his siblings.

Himiko squealed at the boy, “You’re so cute! My quirk is Transform! I can turn into anyone after eating their blood,” she paused, “but my quirk therapist says it’s not a very good quirk, so I shouldn’t use it.”

The adults frowned, and so did the kids. Touya tried to bite down the twisting feeling in his gut. He knew how people reacted to Himiko’s quirk.

Izuku leaned forward, “That’s horrible! Your therapist is supposed to make you feel better about your quirk. Does the type of blood affect the change? Can you mimic voices too? Oh does it matter how much you eat? Can you use people’s quirks? How much-“ Katsuki covered his mouth.

“Don’t be weird, Izu.”

Izuku turned red, “Oh, sorry. I get excited about quirks.”

Touya stared at them, because this family was breaking every single rule and principle he’d thought he knew about other people, “Uh, I noticed.”

Inko took out her phone, “Himiko, can I call you that, honey?”

“Sure!”

“Is there anything we need to know about your quirk? Do you need to eat blood just normally, or only if you’re using it? Izuku has a lot of quirk side effects, so it’d be rude if we didn’t consider you too.”

One glance at his friend and he could see that Himiko also had no idea what was going on. Good. He was glad he wasn’t alone.

“I uh, well I get really bad cravings for it a lot. I used to just catch animals, I haven’t been doing that a lot recently.”

Under Touya’s watch, Himiko and Inko talked about her quirk for a good ten minutes. She then turned to him.

“And you, honey?”

He ran through the potential pros and cons in his head, before deciding that telling her about his quirk was probably the smarter option.

He let a tiny blue flame appear above his pinky before it flickered out.

“Cremation. My flames run extremely hot. The only issue is that my mom has an ice quirk, so my body is designed for an ice quirk. I don’t handle heat well.”

The woman’s face grew extremely concerned in a way he had never seen before in an adult, and he almost regretted telling her, if only for the long and frantic check of his health she conducted.

Then, she paused, her hands stilling in the air.

“What am I doing, we have a doctor _on-board_ ,” she said to herself. She smiled at him,

“We have a private doctor on the jet, so he’ll probably know more than we do. He’s a quirk doctor we’ve known since Izuku was born.”

Before Touya could say anything, she twisted in her seat, “Katsuki! Get Mabe-San, ah, I mean Kotsune-San, please!”

Katsuki looked up from his seat on the floor, pausing his game on some handheld console. There were couches and chairs readily available, and he was sitting on the floor?

“Mabe-Nii is here?” He asked, looking skeptically around the jet. His eyes settled on a divider that was set up near the end, and he got to his feet, running over to it.

The screen was pulled back, and behind it was a brown skinned man, who still looked a bit Japanese. He wasn't nearly as dark as the pilot. Was he a Hāfu? He definitely looked at least half foreigner. He had short dark brown hair in braids, and a notebook on his face as he slept.

A younger woman was reading in a corner, and she looked up at Katsuki, before dismissing him in favor of her book.

Touya watched as Katsuki marched right up to the man, and took the notebook off of his face.

“Wake up, Mabe-nii,” Katsuki smacked the mans face with the rolled up notebook, and he woke up with a start.

“Ah! Katsuki-kun. What-“

Katsuki handed the man his notebook and dragged him out to where Touya was.

Touya blinked at him, and the man blinked back, still half asleep.

“Kotsune-san, can you check over him, please? He has some quirk side effects.”

Kotsune-San straightened, fixing a wrinkled tie that Touya only just noticed.

“Hello,” he said with a smile, “I’m Mabe Kotsune-san, but you can call me whatever makes you comfortable. I’m the family pediatric and quirk doctor, although I specialize in quirk studies.”

Touya looked around for Himiko, only to find Izuku had dragged her away to color in some kind of All Might coloring book.

“So I can call you idiot?” He asked, squinting at the tall man.

Mitsuki, from her spot near the pilot, snorted, and Touya felt his shoulders relax a bit. He’d have to do more tests, but so far the adults seemed really easygoing. She smiled at him, before she turned back to Sakura-san, talking about highschool days.

The doctor himself chuckled, and began to ask Touya questions about his quirk and his body.

Touya told him he was always cold, and his skin was cold, until he used his quirk. He showed him the slightly darker patches of scar tissue on his face, and how the burns tended to focus on certain parts of his body.

“Does it hurt when you activate your quirk?”

Touya thought it over, “It does, but not like a regular hot burn. It’s not super painful, it’s kind of like pins and needles, but hot.”

Kotsune-San grinned, showing off a chipped incisor that Touya hadn’t noticed before, and wrote some more things down.

“This isn’t the easiest solution, but you’re going to need to wear warmer clothes, even in hot weather. I believe that your body temperature is unnaturally cold. It’s as if you have a reversed fever or mild hypothermia 24/7. We need to bring your temperature up so your quirk doesn’t shock your body anymore. If that doesn't work, we'll try a different route.”

Touya nodded. That seemed almost too simple, though. He couldn’t help the doubt hovering at the forefront of his mind. His father had dragged him to a few therapists and doctors to get him working properly, but they spent most of their time gushing over the number two hero, and in the end they were fruitless.

Although, come to think of it, Touya never did fare well in cold weather.

Mitsuki waved towards him, grabbing his attention.

“If that’s all you need, then that can be solved right now,” she got to her feet, and walked over to a series of cabinets and cupboards. She flicked a latch on them open, and revealed what must’ve been a whole wardrobe, along with a cupboard full of fabrics.

Mitsuki thumbed through the cupboards, and beckoned him closer. He did, leaving the doctor and Inko to talk about blood substitutes for Himiko.

Mitsuki spun around, wielding a tape measure in her manicured hands.

“Stay still for a sec,” She said, and began to measure him up and down. She measured his head, his feet, the length of his arms and legs, everything.

He might’ve felt uncomfortable if she wasn’t so absorbed in her work, muttering things under her breath.

She reached for a notebook resting on the table, and jotted a few things down, humming.

“Well, I’ll have some clothes tailored for you when we get there. Until then, these should be in your size.”

She took out a few piles of clothes, for girls and boys both. He blinked at the girl's clothes, and gave her a look.

She laughed, “Fashion doesn’t have a gender, kid. Clothes are whatever you want them to be, so wear whatever you want.”

He wanted to laugh, himself. His father definitely thought otherwise. He’d die if he saw Touya in anything like some of the clothes in the piles.

With that thought in mind, Touya spitefully grabbed a few of the more feminine shirts, grinning. Everything Mitsuki had pulled out was for colder weather, with long sleeves like the doctor had recommended.

He rifled through what he had in hand, settling on a pair of black long jeans, and one of the spite-shirts. It was still cool, of course. He wouldn’t wear anything obnoxious.

It was a grey woolen sweater, with black stars splattered across it. It even glittered a bit.

Mitsuki showed him the changing rooms. By the time he got out, Himiko was getting measured, and the other kids surrounded the closets, picking clothes out.

Izuku saw him and beckoned him over. He was holding a few magazines in his hands, instead of clothes.

Touya walked over curiously, fiddling with the sweater. He wasn’t used to loose clothing. Everything he had at home was form fitting, tight pants and muscle shirts for training, air restricting button ups at formal events, and his school uniform (which he was sure was a size too small).

“Why do you just have catalogs?”

Izuku opened his mouth, falling into a complete, and very _fast_ , explanation. A bit too fast, actually. Touya couldn’t understand a word of it. He glanced around, looking for help. The purple haired kid, Hitoshi, turned around.

He waved a hand at Izuku, “You’re going too fast again,” he told him. Izuku turned bright red, freckles even starker against his skin, and shoved his face into his hand. A high pitched noise escaped him.

Hitoshi laughed quietly, and smiled.

“His body is made of light, right? His clothes are too. He doesn’t really like wearing things, unless he can bite them.”

Izuku flailed, and grabbed Hitoshi suddenly. The taller boy looked a bit smug, like he’d been expecting this.

“It sounds weird when you say it like that!!” Izuku cried, shaking Hitoshi.

“He looks at the catalogs to decide what outfit to wear, but he has shit fashion sense,” a gruff voice said.

Touya twisted in place, staring down the kid who was obviously the best dressed out of the bunch. Considering all of them were well dressed and fashionable according to what must be some kind of style, that was saying a lot.

The girl, Tsuyu, had arms full of long skirts and frog designed clothes. She clearly had a theme going.

Hitoshi seemed to be going for a baggy hobo look. His clothes were breathable, and darkly colored.

Izuku wore a _lot_ of different things, but there were three areas that seemed to be common. Glittery bejeweled clothes, hero merch, and overalls. So many overalls. There was an entire magazine of overall themed clothes on the floor, overall skirts, cotton overalls, jean overalls, it was insane.

Katsuki looked much more put together in contrast, like a model. His side of the closet had outfits already paired together, looking like they were out of a photo shoot. Touya guessed the ‘clothes don’t have a gender’ rule applied here as well, because he spied a few girl shirts, and skirts.

Touya felt like his clothes were too hastily decided, but he honestly didn’t have the guts to change his decisions now. He was mostly happy with what he had picked, anyways.

Himiko skipped over, her grin wide and happy.

“I’m getting a blood substitute that’ll taste like blood, and have iron and stuff in it,” She bragged, getting into his personal space. He didn’t mind. He never did when it was with her.

“And,” she continued, “if that doesn't stop the cravings, then it means I'm craving the DNA in blood! So then we'd be getting actual blood, from animals or something.”

They would get her _blood??_

His thought was cut off, as Mitsuki had apparently followed her, and pointed to a few sections, “All of this is in your size. You can wear something from here or whatever you brought.”

“From here!” Himiko said immediately, not wasting a second before she was rifling through the piles like there was no tomorrow.

“Touya come hold stuff up for me!” She demanded, still smiling. He put down his clothes on a nearby table obediently, willingly. He was glad she was already so comfortable, although he knew all of her grinning was a sort of test.

Himiko hadn’t smiled with her teeth showing since she was little, after all. Every smile since then was close-lipped and stretched too thin. Her teeth were a constant reminder of her quirk, and nobody wanted to see that, she knew. She was constantly reminded of that.

He was as impressed that no one had flinched yet, or looked away, or even stared at her teeth.

These people were so fucking weird.

* * *

He and Himiko spent the rest of the trip curled up on a beanbag chair, watching a movie on an orange tablet that was offered to them.

They were going to share a pair of headphones before they were offered a splitter cord, so they could both listen individually without the neck cramps.

The others ran about the jet, playing tag or other games. They were mostly left unbothered. Izuku had tried to approach them in the beginning, but they heard a muffled call from Inko, and Izuku got a sheepish look, turning away.

Speaking of Inko, she and Mitsuki drank champagne and talked with the doctors and old men onboard (he’d overheard that they were bodyguards, but Himiko had heard that they were teachers, so they were unsure).

Occasionally they’d get loud enough that Touya and Himiko could hear their laughs over their headphones. Mitsuki in particular was a near constant source of noise, uncaring of the volume level of her guffaws.

Halfway through the second movie Tsu waved to get their attention.

They took off the headphones.

“We’re going to eat, and get ready for bed afterwards,” she said quietly. They didn’t have a chance to answer before she scuttled away, back towards the group.

Himiko and Touya looked at each other, and shrugged, getting to their feet clumsily. They shook the feeling back into their limbs and went in Tsu’s direction.

There was a few tables with food on them, looking homemade. Touya wondered how they got homemade food on a jet, before he spotted the Tupperware, and realized that they had brought the food from home.

Chopsticks were passed out, and everyone started to eat. They were silent at first, other than occasional hums and eating noises, but then Izuku opened his mouth.

“Your hair is a really cool color!” He said to Touya, “I love red, it’s in almost all of All Might’s costumes! And I have red shoes, they’re my favorites, tied with my green sandals of course.”

“The ones with flowers?” Katsuki asked around a bite of food, closing his mouth with a click as he spotted his mother’s stare.

Izuku shook his head, “Those are nice but I always mess with the flowers too much, I’m talking about the ones with the green camouflage straps.”

Hitoshi screwed up his face, “I thought you didn’t like those ones.”

“I do now!”

Izuku huffed, “But I wasn’t talking about my sandals, I was talking about Touya-sans hair.”

Touya scowled, “Who said you could use my given name?”

The child flailed, curled ringlets waving around, “That’s not what I meant! I mean, it was, but you never fully introduced yourself.”

Touya blinked.

“Todoroki Touya.”

“Ok then, Todoroki-San-“

Oh, _ew._ That just sounded like someone talking to his dad. He wasn’t supposed to have to deal with his dad on this trip.

“Touya is fine, actually,” he amended with a small hiss. He stuck a thumb in Himiko’s direction.

“Call her whatever.”

“Hey! Don’t decide for me!”

Touya stared at his friend, “Alright, what do you want to be called?”

She sniffed, “Anything is fine.”

He sighed.

The rest of the dinner was just idle conversation. Mitsuki talked to them about their schoolwork, and what they’d have to do for that, and talked about her career.

Touya found it hard to believe that she struck gold in her first year of university. How do you snowball from that? Fast, apparently.

A quick wiki search only made him more impressed at her work ethic.

“Oh,” He said, only now noticing the earrings on Hitoshi, “Nice earrings, man. I’ve been wanting some too.”

Hitoshi perked you from his seat, wiping his mouth, “Oh really? What kind? Izuku gave these ones to me and I really like them.”

He hummed, rubbing the tip of his index finger across his face, feeling the ripples of scar tissue that laid under the surface of his skin, unseen.

“I like piercings in general, but I’ve never gotten any before. Rings look nice, and studs.”

Tsu jumped off her chair, startling him for a second, and she bounced away, coming back with a white leather chest.

“Oh!” Izuku exclaimed, “The pretend piercings and tattoos!”

Curiosity piqued, Touya and Himiko leaned forward in an attempt to catch a glimpse at whatever was inside. They didn’t need to strain for long, though, as Tsu dumped the box out over the center of the table, to Inko’s dismay.

“Tsuyu! We haven’t finished eating!” The woman said, pulling her plate away from the mess that covered the crimson tablecloth.

Tsu blinked, eyes widening as if she had forgotten the fact that they were mid-meal.

Touya could care less about the food now, anyways. He spread out the pile, sifting through with his hands.

“Oh _awesome!”_ He picked up a two piece fake chain earring, and glanced at Mitsuki quickly. She smiled into her wine and waved a consenting hand, eliciting a grin from the teen.

The rest of dinner was forgotten until after they had all tried on different pieces of jewelry and temporary tattoos.

Katsuki, who grew old of the earrings fast, laid his attention on the big men sitting in a booth with their own food. He snagged a few more off the table and went over to their table, speaking in a murmur, soft but hopeful.

Soon enough the men were covered in jewelry and tattoos as well.

Touya looked at himself in the mirror, turning his head left and right. Mitsuki had given them the one rule of ‘no tattoos on the face’ and besides that, let them do what they wished in terms of creativity.

Himiko has gotten a lot of insect tattoos, he noticed. She was upset that there weren’t any mosquitoes, though.

He had no idea why she would like mosquitoes, well he did, they both sucked blood, but besides that mosquitoes were gross.

He wasn’t going to make it a big deal, though.

The accessories were eventually cleared and dinner resumed. Dinner was always eaten in silence at his house. His father would’ve never allowed this. The thought sent a rush of giddiness through his veins.

Even so, he kept expecting to get in trouble, some irrational part of his brain screaming that either Mitsuki and Inko were secretly just like his father, or that his father was on the plane watching somehow. He could easily snuff out those, though.

Father didn’t even deserve to be thought of. He had done nothing to earn the space in Touya’s head that he had filled with himself.

After dinner, they all gathered around the large television, as the two big men (monks apparently?) went to bed early. The doctors retired to their own section to work over Himiko’s notes.

Apparently the only kind of program that the kids never fought over were nature documentaries.

“Do you two like nature documentaries?” Inko asked, Katsuki thoroughly snuggled up in her arms.

Touya nodded.

Himiko messed with a tattoo on her thigh of a centipede, “Can it be about bugs?”

“I like bugs,” Tsu chimed.

“Bugs it is,” Mitsuki said, clicking on a film about insects.

Touya was wide awake through the whole thing, Himiko falling asleep on his shoulder near the end.

The other kids, except Hitoshi, were in similar states.

Everyone could see when Izuku fell asleep. After a few minutes of dozing, he glowed softly, and a gem fell into the rug. Mitsuki handed it to Inko, who took it, gathered the sleeping Katsuki up into her arms, and bustled them off to the beds. She came back for Tsu a few minutes later, then she offered her arms for Himiko.

He shook his head, and easily picked her up (at least his training was good for something), moving her over to his bed, and getting her settled there.

She had her own bed, but like hell she was sleeping in that. Inko and Mitsuki didn’t appear to be bothered, with Inko smiling gently at him, and Mitsuki tapping away at her phone.

The credits of the movie rolled lazily across the screen, and Hitoshi, wide awake from his spot on the floor, rolled over and switched it off.

“Can we play a card game?” He asked them. They checked the time, and nodded.

“Do you want to play a card game, Touya?” Mitsuki asked.

Touya shrugged, “Dunno. We don’t play games in my house, so I don’t really know how they work.”

Hitoshi gave him a small smile, “We can play an easier one, like Old Maid, if you want?”

Touya shook his head, “Nah, I can learn anything you want to play. Give me the hardest you got.”

Hitoshi nodded seriously and said, “ _Rummy_ ,” with reverence.

Mitsuki laughed, “Hitoshi, bud, every single one of you kids has a different game you think is the hardest.”

Touya shifted on his feet, “We can play Rummy. I don’t mind.”

They all sat down at a table, as Mitsuki explained the rules, and they started to play.

There was talking, but most of it was just little exchanges of small talk. He was asked about his siblings, and his favorite subjects in school (Math and Science). It was surprisingly normal. He hadn’t known what he should have expected.

Maybe for them to be more asshole-y? Like almost every other adult he had met.

His eyes began to droop by the fifth round. Somehow Hitoshi was still wide-eyed, but he also looked tired. Not sleepy, just tired.

The boy leaned over, tugging on Inko’s shirt. He signed something with one hand, and she turned to Mitsuki.

“Hon, where’d you put the hedgehog and the sleeping meds?”

Mitsuki gestured towards her carry-on, and began to pick up cards. Touya had the feeling the game was over, with no definite winner.

Inko went to go and get the items she had mentioned from the bag, and Touya looked at Hitoshi.

“What do you need that stuff for?” He asked, stifling a yawn that hadn’t quite risen from his chest yet.

Hitoshi dragged a finger across the table, and reluctantly (and quietly) spoke, “I can’t sleep good. Never did a lot of sleeping with my last set of parents.”

“He only takes the medicine if he knows he can’t fall asleep. The hedgehog is filled with rice and lavender oil we can heat up.”

Inko stuffed something into the small plane microwave, buttons chirping mechanically was she pressed them.

She tossed a prescription bottle to Mitsuki, who caught it easily. Touya couldn’t help but think of how _young_ both of them looked. He was pretty sure they were the same age as his own mother, but Todoroki Rei was a raw stone thrown to the tides, to be chipped away at and ground down by the forces. She looked small in Touya’s mind, compared to these two, likely alone in the mental hospital right now. He hadn’t even sent her a letter...

He shook his head sharply, blaming his intrusive thoughts on the sleep he was sure he needed.

Mitsuki popped out a small lavender colored pill (Touya wondered if everything this kid owned had a purple theme on purpose or coincidence) and passed it to the boy, who knocked it back without water, something that made Touya’s stomach twist. He shuddered. Hitoshi noticed him and gave a smirk,  
  
“I can eat anything,” he said softly, yet obviously still bragging.  
  
Touya snorted, “Yeah I can’t do that, you got me there.”  
  
The microwave beeped again, and Inko opened it. The smell of lavender pervaded the air instantly, swarming and smoothing over his senses like a calming drought. He was suddenly far more tired than he use to be. He pulled the remaining cards into half-hazard pile, and once he was sure it wasn’t going to fall over at the slightest hint of turbulence, he stood. His hands slowly crept past his face towards the sky in a stretch. Did that work if he was already in the sky? He filed the thought away.  
  
He gave a nod at the three, noting that Hitoshi was not going to his own bed, but wrapped up in Inko’s arms instead. It looked comfortable.

~~He wondered how it felt-~~

“Can I go to bed?” He asked, glancing down at Hitoshi meaningfully, who was now ignoring him. Not purposely, Touya knew, because Shouto was often single-minded when he was tired as well. Mitsuki waved a dismissive hand,  
  
“He’ll just sleep with us, kid, you can go to bed,” She began to flick off lights, the only thing remaining being the streak of yellow lights that shone under the door connecting to the cockpit.

He found it deceptively easy to just slip into bed with Himiko, who was snoring, her upper lip pulled back. It a funny little quirk of hers, considering she didn’t very much like to show her teeth when she was awake. She must have recognized him in her sleep somehow, because she grabbed him by the pale blue buttons of his sleeping shirt, and yanked him closer to her. He swore under his breath, almost laughing. When had she gotten so strong.

Going against her iron grip was a losing battle, so he surrendered, curling against her body. In a few minutes, the combination of the steady rise of Himiko’s chest, and whatever white noise they had playing from a small speaker (ocean sounds?), sent him to sleep himself.

Once his breathing evened out, two glowing titian eyes opened and stared at him. Himiko huffed at him, smiling, and then she went back to sleep herself. There was a big day tomorrow, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks so much to everyone that supports this, literally. Someone in the comments said they love how Izuku isn't exactly out of character, just raised in a healthy way. WHICH MAKES ME SO HAPPY. Children act differently depending on their environment. Izuku still has anxiety, but it's not nearly as bad as it is in the anime, and he is not the frighteningly suicidal Izuku we see in canon (his 'i will save people at the cost of myself' thing is bc of bullying i will fite-) because he was raised to value himself. So, he has a very healthy amount of fear about dangerous situations. AS HE SHOULD.
> 
> Imagine googling the effects of UV rays in airplanes, weird right? Not me i definitely did not do that. 
> 
> I also googled and looked at a freaking ton of private jets. The one they're in is pretty high class even for a private jet. Also Teen izu and kacchan are the type to scream abt eating the rich even tho theyre rich themselves.
> 
> Does anyone else want to scream abt Touya's quirk bc my theory is that he can't regulate his body temperature. So it runs cooler normally, but he can heat up really fast with his quirk and his body can't adapt. Technically if he's in a hot place and starts heating up, he can't stop the temperature climb. So then he'd have to wear a cooling vest to bring his temp down to a normal level.
> 
> I will die with red haired Touya, I don't care what canon says.
> 
> Last thing, I always try to make discussion of gender and pronouns a natural thing, so hopefully I'm doing that right. I don't want it to look like it's unnecessarily shoved in there. I try to make it look like normal dialogue, bc it is.


End file.
